Knowledge of the school health programme and the National School Health Policy among primary school teachers in a Local Government Area, Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Background:

Primary school education is the first level of formal and structured education that forms the foundation of anyother educational achievement in life. A good academic performance has been linked to the good health status of schoolchildren. The school health programme (SHP) is a cost-effective way of meeting the health needs of pupils. The success of theprogramme is determined largely by the depth of knowledge, interest, and enthusiasm of the teachers. This study aimed todemonstrate the knowledge of teachers in primary schools in Ido/Osi on the SHP and their awareness of the National SchoolHealth Policy (NSHP).
Methodology:
A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among administrative heads and school health instructors of67 (48 private and 19 public) schools using a standardized checklist.
Results:
There were older respondents in the public schools with a mean age of 46.59±8.21 years compared with that for theprivate schools which was 35.74±9.12 years. The public schools had significantly more teachers with education-relatedqualifications (93.8%) as compared with private schools (28.9%). Also, more public school teachers (37.5%) had longerteaching experience compared to private school teachers (5.3%). Less than half, 43.3%, of the respondents, were aware of SHP(39.5% for private vs 44.8% for public), and worse still none of the respondents had seen the NSHP or could name a componentof the SHP.
Conclusion:
There is an obvious knowledge gap of teachers, on SHP and NSHP, who are supposed to be the arrowhead onimplementation of the SHP.Keywords: Attitude, awareness, knowledge, national school health policy, primary school, school health programme.