Mahunag School of District Mandi certified as the first Health Promoting Educational Institution in the State of HP

Shimla: The Government Spokesperson today said that the Government Senior Secondary School, Mahunag District Mandi has been certified as the first Health Promoting Educational Institution in the State of Himachal Pradesh. He informed that the strategy of health promotion in the educational institutes is a joint venture of Health and Education Department. He said that the state of Himachal Pradesh is pioneer in initiating this strategy in the country and it will be helpful in achieving good health as a long term strategy in the State.
The Government Spokesperson said that health promotion in school involves educating the children about health related matters and creating a healthy environment. He further informed that the grading of the Health Promoting Educational Institutions is done by the institute itself, based on the scores as decided by the Health and Education Department. The institutes scoring 90 or >90 are graded as Health Promoting School/ Educational Institution, those with score of 80-90 marks are graded as achievers and those with 60-80 marks are graded as aspirants. He said that the final certification is done by the committee formed by the Block Medical Officer of the respective districts.
The Government Spokesperson informed that Health promotion enables people to take care of their own health. He said that the Health promotion at school level is very important for living, learning and working. It will affect the health related behaviours like knowledge, beliefs, skills, attitudes and values of the school going children that will support their healthy future.
The Government Spokesperson emphasised that the schools and educational institutes should get themselves certified as Health Promoting educational Institutes in lager public health interest.