Health Promoting Schools Facilitator's Manual

Good health is integrally linked to a child' education.Cognizant to this, the Department of Education promotes the creation of a child-friendly school environment that protects and promotes the health of the child.

A child-friendly school is more than just a place of formal learning. It is a school that recognizes and respects children's rights and responsibilities and provides the enabling environment to bring to life children's rights in schools,homes and communities. It creates an optimal learning environment for children by actively improving the school, family and community conditions in which children live, are educated and socialized.

A child-friendly school endeavors to improve access to quality basic education. This can only be achieved when children are healthy and well prepared to actively learn in school, home and community.School enrollment, attendance and achievement are influenced by a host of factors including the capacity of the child as a bio social organism to process and respond to stimuli. As the quality of health and life of the child improves,so too does the efficiency of a child's learning, until the innate aptitude of the child is realized.The promotion of children's and school actors' health including the development of positive health seeking behaviors among children,school actors and their families is an important feature of a child-friendly school.

This manual was developed by the Health and Nutrition Center of the Department of Education in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund. It was crafted to ensure that the elements of health promoting school strategy is within the integrated School Health and Nutrition Program. Prior to the finalization of the manual, the material was used during the the conduct of the Training of Trainors on Health Promoting Schools for areas covered under the Fifth Country Program for Children.

The manual serves as a guide for all school administrators and health personnel as they move towards creating a safe,secure, friendly and healthy environment which would provide children with positive experiences as they learn. The manual also hopes that teachers, health personnel and administrators will have an enjoyable and enriching experience as they hope and strengthen their teaching and caring skills.