Conceptual Framework

Five Year Conceptual Framework of the Proposed Health Promoting School Activities
Sipsaru Organization and Dehigastenne Vidyalaya, Ginigathena, Sri Lanka

Background of the school and rationale

Dehigastenna Maha Vidayalaya is a hard-to-reach school situated in Nuwara Eliya district.  The school provides education from Year 1 to Year 11 and as at end of 2017, there were a total of 104 students on roll with 16 teachers in the school.

This school drains children from a village that has a population around 1800.  Only the children from socially backward families with low educational background who are not economically stable attend this school. Majority of the parents do not have stable employment and are daily wage earners. Household survey that was conducted revealed that more than 80% of the families just earn less than Rs 15,000 per month and fall below the official income poverty line of Rs 4160/month/person. Only two children have parents who have completed the total years of schooling. Six percent of the families live in houses without electricity and the same percentage of children had their mothers working in the Middle East. Also, four percent of children live with only one parent and three percent  with relations or grandmother because of a death or separation of the parents. Almost one fifth of the students come from the families with Intimate Partner Violence. Three fourths of fathers consume alcohol and almost half of them spend money on smoking.

Due to the poor economic background and low educational level of the parents, the school is unable to mobilize local resources to support the day to day running of the school such as cleaning and renovations of buildings, purchase of supplies, and to support the students participating in extracurricular activities.

During the health screening programme in March 2018, almost all the children below 10 years were found to be wasted indicating acute malnutrition. Educational performance remains very low and success rate in the government examinations (year 5 scholarship as well as GCE Ordinary level) remain very low.

The detailed survey on the infrastructure and facilities in the school revealed that all the latrines in the school to be in a dilapidated state.

Although there is enough land extending to 1.4 hectares that include a small playground, there are only three functional buildings resulting in classrooms been cramped together. A small multipurpose shed had been put up by the school for the use of meetings, dancing and singing practices etc. As this shed does not have walls and the floor is not paved, this shed cannot be used during rainy days

The Primary section of the school is situated in a higher elevation with a very steep path and steps. As a result, the communication between the primary and the secondary sections of the school is not optimal. The lonely access road makes small students more accident prone and also the parents’ reluctance to send the small children to school alone results in high absenteeism among the children, in turn affecting their education.

library is not functional and has only a few old books. Although a separate room is available as the school laboratory, science practical sessions are not conducted due to non-availability of chemicals and supplies.

Water is provided from a spring and the quality is not known.

The staff including the principal is very committed to improve the educational performance and wellbeing of school children. The area Medical Officer of Health is also very committed to improve health status of the children and to implement health promoting activities that in turn will lead to better educational performance.

The mission of the Sipsaru Association is to support the school to improve the physical and psychological environment of both children and teachers in order to enhance the teaching- learning process and to improve the wellbeing of the school community that include children, teachers as well as the families of the children using health promotion strategies. By the end of the programme period, Dehigastenne Vidyalaya will be transformed into a model health promoting school.

Proposed interventions

1. Health promotion activities

   1. Revamp the School Health Committee and the School Health Association. Option to volunteer will be given to the teachers thus guaranteeing that only the teachers with commitment get involved.
   2. Training of teachers on Health Promotion to enable them to: 1) define the concept of healthy school , 2) recognize the characteristics of a healthy school, 3) determine the relationship between healthy school concept and school achievements, 4) understand the process of developing a healthy school, 5) carry out activities to address the identified determinants of an “unhealthy school”, 6) measure the changes using sensitive indicators and simple tools developed by themselves and 7) modify activities accordingly to continued improvements.
   3. Conduct quarterly reviews / monitoring sessions of half or one day duration with participation of all the teachers.
   4. Conduct a half a day session to initially engage with the students on health promotion concept.
   5. Conduct Bi-monthly monitoring sessions with the children (ideally with all the children, if not with the students who are actively participating in health promotion activities).
   6. Conduct parental awareness programmes once in six months to engage them in the activities (ideally all the parents, if not the parents of children who are sitting for G.C.E ordinary level examination)
   7. Facilitate health promotion activities on bi-weekly or monthly basis by a Health Promotion Facilitator.

2. Harness Healthy habits

   1. Inculcate positive habits to spend leisure time: Encourage reading habits of children by introducing a reward system for the students who read books. Children will be given the opportunity to borrow books from the library.  Establish a rewarding to appreciate the children who read the most whilst ensuring the students who are lagging behind are not marginalized.
   2. Provide more opportunities to engage in music, dancing and painting:  Purchase materials for drawing (drawing papers, colour sticks etc) and play music instruments and encourage children with skills to participate in outside competitions.
   3. Harness the Literary Association activities – Organize a variety entertainment with participation of the children and teachers support.
   4. Conduct a First Aid training for a selected team of teachers and students with the assistance of St John’s Ambulance Brigade. Provide a First AID box and the maintenance including replenishing of the items will be entrusted to the school Health club.
   5. Purchase and handover sports equipment and introduce on a regular basis a physical fitness programme including aerobics. Explore the possibility of holding an athletic meet. Support the children with athletic skills to take part in outside competitions.
   6. Establish personal hygiene programmes including for menstrual hygiene.
   7. Promote polythene free environment by discouraging single use polythene in the school premises.
   8. Implement activities to raise awareness and prevent violence against women, alcohol, tobacco.
   9. Provide befriending/counseling training to two more teachers, so giving students a choice of befrienders/counsellors within school.

3. Improving Physical Health of the School community

   1. Facilitate the annual School Medical Inspection by the area Medical Officer of Health that include screening for malnutrition, heart diseases and other common conditions. This will include school immunization for adult DT, Rubella, HPV, anthelminthic treatment, correction of anemia and treatment of mild conditions. The programme will facilitate the referrals of children to health institutions if they need so. Follow up will be carried out jointly by the area Medical Officer of Health and school.
   2. In the event children are found with nutritional deficiencies a suitable programme will be implemented to correct deficiencies and to improve knowledge and skills of parents in ensuring household food safety.
   3. Facilitate annual screening of teachers and parents for Non-Communicable Diseases and refer accordingly.

4. Facilitate to improve educational activities

   1. Establish a scholarship programme. Develop clear criteria with the consensus of the school authorities to choose beneficiaries amongst the high performers as well as the students who live in abject poverty.
   2. Support the school to Improve Language and math skills of children. Promote English as a language and take steps to have additional teaching- learning sessions within school for the children who are lagging behind in studies.
   3. Facilitate implementing targeted interventions to prepare the children who are sitting for G.C.E ordinary level examination by purchasing past papers, teachers guide and conducting special classes.

5. Improve Infrastructure

   1. Renovate the dilapidated toilets. Ensure that these toilets will have an uninterrupted water supply and utensils and supplies for cleaning purposes.
   2. Make the school Laboratory functional by purchasing the necessary supplies and rearranging the room.
   3. Give a facelift to the library room by colour washing, providing better illumination, polishing the old book racks and by providing new books both Sinhala and English.
   4. Renovate and transform the multi-functional temporary shed in to an outdoor classroom  by cementing the floor and building a half wall to convert it to. Will ensure enough ventilation and lighting.
   5. Explore the possibility of constructing an outdoor classroom/pavilion.
   6. Explore the possibility of constructing a building near to the secondary classes to accommodate the primary classes.

6. Bio-Farming

   1. Increase the awareness among school community that include Children, teachers, parents on harmful effects of use of chemicals and benefits of bio-farming
   2. Improve the knowledge and skills among school children, teachers and families on bio-farming by establishing an organic farm in the school.
   3. Create a market for the local agricultural products that are grown using bio-farming methods

7. Monitoring and evaluation

A committee will be established and regular meetings will be held. Minutes will be circulated amongst members. A bank account will be opened and all donors will be provided with account details as well as progress reports. 

A household survey will be conducted at the inception to gather salient information in order to plan focused interventions.
A set of indicators will be developed to gauge the progress. A mid-term as well as an end of the programme assessment will be conducted.