Schools prioritising health education: Thumbs up!

Ignorance of  healthy lifestyle leads to devastating illnesses, diseases and deaths.

In education, a learner who is mentally, emotionally and physically healthy is capable of pursuing academic studies with much enthusiasm.

Specifically, it affords him or her the strength to navigate academic challenges with ease and improves on their relationship with peers and teachers.

In view of these, school-based health education is such an important step to learning and performance in schools.

I had a chance to witness a health education session in a senior high school in Ghana.

The worth of insights was intriguing! 

School health education is teaching students ways to take care of themselves(study.com) The goal is not only to increase your child’s health knowledge and to create positive attitudes toward his own well-being but also to promote healthy behaviour ( Cathae Gaias, 2021, vol 9).

In Ghana, the advent of COVID-19 saw many schools adhering to various safety protocols and engaging in regular educational and monitoring activities to ensure that all learners, teaching and non-teaching staff abided by the protocols.

But, will the management of these schools extend this level of health education, monitoring and evaluation activities to other related matters that bother learners’, teachers and non-teachers’ health and wellbeing?

This article seeks to shed light on health matters that should be of grave concern to the school community, especially learners.

Psycho-emotional health

Psycho-emotional state is the essential aspect of the general functional state of the body which directly affects health (Semigina, T. et al, 2020).

Learners with sound psycho-emotional health actively participate in class activities and develop the fortitude for problem solving, critical thinking and relationship building. 

An inconvenient truth is that in Ghana, some learners find themselves in extremely unconducive learning environments such as schools under trees, dilapidated classroom blocks and sometimes sexual harassment from peers and teachers as well as inadequate teaching and learning resources.

This situation is capable of triggering anxiety, depression, frustration, stress etc within learners.

Ultimately, it promotes absenteeism, loss of confidence and loss of concentration in academic studies. 

Some learners may even indulge in immoral acts such as smoking and sexual activities.

A study conducted in Ghana by Amadu, P.M. et al (2024) indicated that anxiety is prevalent among basic school students in northern Ghana, with the potential to affect learning outcomes/academic performance and well-being. 

Another study in Accra reported 84 per cent of university students experiencing mild to extremely severe anxiety (Asante K.O, Andoh-Arthur J. 2015). 

A health education program on how to manage learners’ psycho-emotional health may foster effective self-control, enhanced relaxation, deep focus and cordial interpersonal relationships.

Sexual health

In Ghana, discussing sex and its intricacies seem delicate in households.

Some parents are of the view that doing so may encourage their children to try it. 

Rather, ignoring it may tempt them to seek the advice of ignorant peers who may lead them astray.

Hence, they easily fall victim to sexual acts such as prostitution, gay practice, masturbation, lesbianism etc. 

The effects include contracting sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancies and abortions.

Schools and parents are socialisation agents in the lives of learners as such a collaborative approach to sexual education may go a long way to protect and prevent them from unsafe sexual practices.

Personal hygiene

This refers to the cleanliness of a person’s body.

A research study conducted by Odonkor, S.T.  et al (2019) titled ‘Self-Assessment of hygienic practices towards predictive and preventive medicine intervention:

A case of university students in Ghana, concluded that a significant number of students are not practicing good hygiene. 

The paper called for improvement in methods of hygiene education for young people in tertiary institutions and the inclusion of hygiene in school curricula.

In this regard, learners ought to be educated on and encouraged to abide by basic personal hygiene practices around areas like basic oral health, genital care, menstrual hygiene, washing of clothes and under wears etc.

In conclusion, a balance of the instructional support as well as health education is essential for learners holistic development.

Remember, healthy learners are assets to a nation. 

The writer is an Institutional Assessment Practitioner.

Email: hattanyame@gmail.com