Perceived school health services in government elementary schools of Bengaluru

Pages: 812-816
Sushma G. Murthy and Rameela Shekhar (Department of Social Work, School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore, Karnataka)

School Health is an important concept as children spend significant amount of their time in schools. In order to augment overall development of children, it is important to prevent, detect and treat physical and mental health issues among school children at an early stage. The objective of the study is to know the perception of Head Masters of the schools on health services provided in Government Elementary schools of Bengaluru. The study adopted Simultaneous Triangulation Model. A Sample of Head Masters from 100 Government Elementary schools was selected randomly for a survey while 40 of them were again selected randomly for In-depth Interviews. All schools have received vaccination and 57% of the schools have received tablets, diagnosis and referral services along with vaccination. 17% and 24% of the schools have raised concerns over viral infections and emotional health issues respectively. This is affirmed in the in-depth interviews even as they generated themes on health benefits received, problems of lack of treatment facilities, inadequate and infrequent checkup and a complete neglect of mental health.