Department of School Education and Literacy launches ‘Arogya Shanivara’ sessions in Udupi schools

Udupi's Dept. of School Education & Literacy launched 'Arogya Shanivara' to educate 1.61 lakh students on disease & health mgmt, personal safety, hygiene, first aid & cleanliness.

In a novel initiative, the Department of School Education and Literacy in Udupi has launched ‘Arogya Shanivara’ (imparting health, safety education on Saturday) to enlighten students on disease and health management and managing personal safety.

Primary and high school students of all 1,098 schools in the district are being educated since June on the symptoms of various diseases and seasonal infections like malaria, dengue; why and how they spread; in which season they spurt; how to manage them; and precautionary measures to be taken to keep such diseases away. In addition, students are also being enlightened on the prevention and management of cough, cold and fever either through doctors, trained teachers, health department staff.

K. Ganapathi, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Udupi, said the sessions are held in classrooms on Saturdays. “The duration of the sessions varies depending on the topics. We have not fixed any timing like half an hour, an hour or 15 minutes to educate the students. The sessions will be held till the end of this academic year in government, government aided private and private schools,” he said.

He said 1,098 schools have 1.61 lakh students who in turn pass on the tips they get to their family members.

The DDPI said that students are also being educated on maintaining personal hygiene and first aid and maintaining cleanliness in homes and schools. The initiate has been launched with the support and guidance of H. Prasanna, Chief Executive Officer of Udupi Zilla Panchayat, he said.

Mr. Ganapathi said that students are being told on the preventive steps to be taken while crossing rivulets, streams or rivers during monsoon. How to protect themselves during natural calamities.

He said that many schools have LED screens. Arrangements have been made for the live telecast of lectures by experts from the studio of the Resource Centre at the zilla panchayat. The link of this programme is being shared with schools which do not have LED screens to enable students to watch them either on lap tops and desk tops. Recorded YouTube videos are also being shared with schools.