 APPENDIX `K'
MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 13 :
AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH EDUCATION
 AT PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LEVELS

(a) Inclusion of chapters on the importance of agriculture, soil conservation, forests etc. in the textbooks of primary and Secondary Schools.

(Ministries of Food & Agriculture I.C.A.R.)

(b) To consider the inclusion of Health Education in the curriculum at Primary & Secondary school stage.

(Directorate General of Health Services.)

(a) "In many developing countries, the importance of soil as the greatest natural resource and the necessity for conserving it, the role of the forests in balanced soil management and knowledge of the important crops of the country, is imparted to students in Primary and Secondary Schools through general textbooks as well as through textbooks of Geography, General Science, etc. Land, forests and agriculture hardly find a mention in school textbooks in Indian Schools. It is, therefore, necessary to remedy this deficiency by laying down that the school books in primary and secondary schools should highlight the importance of agriculture, soil conservation, forests, etc. so that every student has a general knowledge of the most important industry of the Country."

The most important industry of the Country in the private sector is Agriculture. As such it is very desirable that the younger generation of the nation be made aware of the importance of agri- culture. The importance of agriculture, especially in the context of the rising population cannot be overemphasized. As a part of instruction in general knowledge, school students should learn about plant and soil management, and the environments in which people live. The few inches on the top layer of the soil is the feeding zones of plants, which provide food for men and animals, fibre for clothing and timber for shelter. It is, therefore, necessary to make the students conscious of the destruction caused by erosion to which all soils are subject under improper land use, and which if allowed to proceed unchecked, can lead to disastrous consequences. Students must know also that when human beings interfere in the natural order of things by cutting down forests on mountains and along the banks of rivers and by destroying the sponge like properties of forest floor by cultivation, they invite the calamity of floods.

A consciousness among students has to be created that trees are a blessing providing as they do shade, firewood, timber, fodder and other necessaries, protecting the farmstead, enhancing the beauty of the surroundings and increasing the fertility of the land. The

advantages of planting trees to meet special needs have to be properly explained to students. The importance of Vanmahotsava as a moment to catch the imagination of the urban and rural community needs to be stressed.

It is advisable that elementary facts regarding agriculture, soil conservation, forests etc. should be brought to the notice of students, and, for that purpose articles of interest should be included in textbooks on general Science, languages,Geography etc. to be published by State Education Departments.

(b) The welfare of a nation rests on the health of its popula- tion, especially of the youth and children of the country. "The children of today are the leaders and statemen of to-morrow". Unless we take active measures to improve the health status of children in the country, we will not be able to change the picture of the present state of health of the nation. One can gauge how depressing is this picture when one realises the large rejections on health grounds during the current recruitment to the army. It is a trite exiom that the child is father of man. It only stands to reason that unless we improve the health of our children we cannot expect a generation to be robust and hardy. In the context of the present emergency the problem acquires a new urgency.

Children form a sizeable and very important section of the popu- tion in India. The age group 0-9 years alone accounts for about 30 per cent of total population. There are about 2.5 crore children attending the primary schools only. A very high percentage of children all over the country suffer from malnutrition and communi- cable diseases. These lower the efficiency and productive capacity of the nation. Effective measures need to be taken to raise the standard of health of the children. To, enable all the children to have scientific health information, develop desirable health practices and make full use of existing facilities, it is essential to have the teaching of health as a compulsory and vital subject in all the schools. To do this, it is necessary to train all the teachers in the teaching of health.

In the last few years, some preliminary work in this field has been done by the Ministries of Health and Education. Syllabi on health education for age-groups 6-11, 11-14 and 14-174 and for teacher training (B.Ed. and Elementary Teacher Training) have been prepared and may be seven in Annexure XV. Besides a one-month training course for primary school teachers from the Union Territory of Delhi was organised as an experimental measure and a follow-up to find out its effectiveness has been done. It is felt that a stage has now been reached when it would be possible to introduce the programme in all teacher training institutions in the country.

To begin with, a programme for training of the future teachers in the teaching of health may be developed and at a later stage, when it is feasible in-service training of the existing teachers may be taken up.

There are nearly 2,000 teacher training institutions (secondary and elementary) in the country. If, at least, two teacher-educators form each of these teacher training institutions are trained in the teaching of health, health education and nutrition, these teacher training institutions will be able to take care of preservice training in the subject and through these, nearly 300,000 teachers who undergo training every year in these institutions would automatically be trained in the subject. This would be make it possible for the Government to introduce and generalise a programme of health and nutrition education in all the schools in the country. A scheme for the training of School teachers in Health activities and also scheme on Health and Nutrition Education may be seen at Annexure XV.

In order to develop a programme of school health education in, the country, educational materials are needed for teachers and students, and there are hardly any material worth the name available in India at present. Thus, provision needs to be made for the production of following types of materials:

1. Guide Books for teachers for elementary and secondary schools and teacher training institutions both B.Ed. and Elementary.

2. Training Manuals for teacher educators.

3. Textbooks for schools.

4. Reference materials for teachers.

5. Reference materials for students.

6. Educational aids.

School health education is the joint responsibility of both the Health and Education Departments. The Health Department has to give the technical know how and the Education Department has to utilise this technical know how for developing a comprehensive health education programme in schools. As such, this calls for joint planning and coordination between the Health and Education Departments, at the National, State, District and local levels.

There is a provision for a Health Education Organisation at the National and State levels in the Health Department. These are : Central Health Education Bureau at the National level and Health Education Bureau at the State level. In each of these bureaux, there is a section dealing with the Student Health Education. The Health and Education Departments may coordinate the work in school health education through these sections at the Central and State levels.

The coordinated effort of the Education and Health Department should be directed towards implementing the proposals of training at least two teacher educators from each of the 200 teacher training institutions proposed to be working by the end of the Fourth Plan

period. Towards this end immediate steps need be taken by the Central and the State Governments for training the staff of the State Institutes of Education and State Health Education Bureaux. The programme of developing and production of textbooks for different classes in schools, guide books for teachers for teaching health and nutrition education to students and training manuals for teacher educators and educational aids will have to be initiated as an advance action for implementing Student Health Education Programme in the Fourth Five Year Plan successfully.

ANNEXURE XV

CENTRAL HEALTH EDUCATION BUREAU

(School Health Education Division)

A Scheme for the Training of School Teachers in Health Activities

The welfare of a nation rests, on the health of its population, especially of the youth and children of the country. "The children of today are the leaders and statesmen of tomorrow". Unless we take active measures to improve the health status of children in the country, we will not be able to change the picture of the present state of health of the nation. One can guage how depressing is this picture when one realises the large rejections on health grounds during the current recruitment to the army. It is a trite axiom that the child is father of man. It only stands to reason that unless we improve the health of our children we cannot expect a generation to be robust and hardy. In the context of the present emergency the problem acquires a new urgency.

Children form a sizeable and very important section of the popu- lation in India. The age-group 0-9 years alone accounts for about 30 per cent of the total population. There are about 2.5 crore children attending the primary schools only. A very high percentage of children all over the country suffer from malnutrition and communicable diseases. These lower the efficiency and productive capacity of the nation. Effective measures need to be taken to raise the standard of health of the children. To enable all the children to have scientific health information, develop desirable health practices and make full use of existing facilities, it is essential to have the teaching of health as a compulsory and vital subject in all the schools. To do this, it is necssary to train all the teachers in the teaching of health.

In the few years, some preliminary work in this field has been done by the Ministries of Health and Education. Syllabi on health education for age-groups 6-11, 11-14, and 14-17 and for teacher train- ing (B.Ed. and Elementary Teacher Training) have been prepared. Besides, a one-month training course for primary school teachers from the Union Territory of Delhi was organised as an experimental measure and a follow-up to find out its effectiveness is being done. It is felt that a stage has now been reached when it would be possible to introduce the programme in all teacher training institutions in the country.

To begin with, a programme for training of the future teachers in the teaching of health may be developed and at a later stage, when it is feasible, in-service training of the existing teachers may be taken up. This scheme is being developed to lay emphasis on the former.

There are nearly 2,000 teacher training institutions in the country. If, at least, two teacher-educators from each of these teacher training institutions ate trained in the teaching of health, health education and nutrition, these teacher training institutions will be able to take care of pre-service training in the subject and through these, nearly 300,000 teachers who undergo training every year in these institutions would automatically be trained in the subject. This would make it possible for the Government to introduce and generalise a programme of health and nutrition education in all the schools in the country.

This scheme envisages training at three levels:

1. At the Central level,

2. At the State level, and

3. In Teacher Training Institutions.

At the Central level, the Central Health Education Bureau, D.G.H.S., Ministry of Health, Government of India, will take the responsibility of training the staff in charge of training at the State level who will be working in the Student Health Education Units of the State Health Education Bureaux. The States where the State Health Education Bureaux have not been sufficiently developed, the possibility of locating the training programme in the State Institutes of `Education or Home Science Colleges may be considered. At the State level, training staff from the Student Health Education Units of the State Health Education Bureaux will take the responsibility of training teacher-educators from the teacher training institutions in the respective States. At the Teacher Training Institute level, the teacher-educators trained at the State level will give pre-service training in health and nutrition education to all the teacher trainees in their respective institutions. The programme Under this training scheme may be started in the last two years of the Third Five Year Plan and continued in the Fourth Five Year Plan.

The Ministry of Health may take a major responsibility in planning and conducting training and the Ministry of Education may assist the Ministry of Health in the training programme and take the responsibility of supervision of health teaching in Teacher Training Institutions, and Schools and follow-up work in this connection.

Target to be

(a) Establishment of a Teacher Training Unit in the Student Health Education Unit of each State Health Education Bureau.

(b) Orientation of the staff (including the staff responsible for teacher training ) of the Student Health Education Unit of each State Health Education Bureau.

(c) Training of two teacher-educators from each Teacher. Training Institution in the country and the supervisory staff from State Education Departments.

(d) Carry out pre-service training in health education in each Teacher Training Institution.

(e) In-service training of at least one teacher from each school in the Union Territory of Delhi.

(f) Production of educational materials for teachers and school children.

(g) The approximate number to be trained are:

        Central level       .    .    . 120+32 for the last 3 days only.
        
        State level         .    .    . 4,000+ Supervisory Staff in Education
                                        Depts.
        
        In Teacher Training Institutions 
        teachers to be annually trained  300,000
        
        In-service training of teachers 
        from Union Territory of Delhi    1,700
        (one teacher from each of the    
        1700 Schools)

Stage I-Central Level

The targets are:

1. Orientation and opportunity for planning for education and health personnel in position to give leadership and guidance in Health Education work in teacher training and in schools.

2. Carry out in-service training in health education of staff incharge of training in Health Education at State level.

3. To do in-service (extension) training for teachers from schools from the Union Territory of Delhi.

4. Centre may provide continued assistance to States through annual conferences, supply of typed material, consultation visits and travelling seminars.

Purposes

1. To orient personnel to need for training of teachers in health education.

2. To develop plans for training to be done at State and Teacher Training Institution levels.

3. To hold technical seminars for selected personnel who will be responsible for directing and guiding the training work.

Proposals

1. Organise Four Seminars in Delhi at the Central Health Education Bureau or some other suitable place. Four States and an appropriate number of Union Territories to be covered in each seminar. Duration of seminar is to be 30 days. Approximate number attending each Seminar is 30 and 8 for 3 days only. (The staff attending the Seminar will get familiar with their respective State Health and Education Departments and their programmes before coming for training at the Central level).

2. Each Seminar to have two phases:

(a) Phase I

Holding of a technical seminar for the staff who will take responsibility of training of teacher-educators at the State level. Different types of training will be imparted to different categories of staff, e.g., doctors, nurses and teachers. The following may be taken into consideration when planning the programme for the seminar:

1. Growth and Development; Personal Hygine.

2. Nutrition and Applied Nutrition programme.

3. Environment.

4. Control of Communicable Diseases.

5. Mental Health.

6. Family Life Education.

7. School Health Programme.

8. Methods of Programme Planning and Teaching.

(b) Phase II

The second phase is to last for 3 days at the end of the seminar to be attended by both administrative and technical personnel. During this phase, plans will be made for the training work to be done at the State level and in Teacher Training Institutions.

Such plans may include : How to implement the scheme.

APPENDIX `K' MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 13 : AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH EDUCATION AT PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LEVELS