Health & Wellbeing Promoting Schools: Setting Global Standards for Education & Wellbeing

Abstract “We achieve our greatest happiness when we realise ourselves through others. Equally, we need to reaffirm our commitment to cultural and socio-economic diversity from which children enter into the portals of the school.” - Rabindranath Tagore “Health Promoting Schools are schools which display and support the commitment to enhancing the emotional, social, physical and moral wellbeing of their school community” (WHO). It is increasingly recognised that schools play a vital role in a child's overall development into a competent adult who contributes usefully to society. Health is an important aspect of children's development, and education is a key determinant of health. Almost all children attend school at some point in their lives and spend 6–7 hours a day in that learning environment. Apart from this, the school curriculum can have a substantial influence on health-promoting behaviours, as it is the strongest social and educational institution available for implementing intervention programmes, with the required structure and governance. It is important that all schools strive to be child-friendly and health-promoting. Schools must be safe, caring and supportive learning environments. Everyone involved in the school has a role to play: teachers, students, management, parents and the wider community. All stakeholders must actively participate to improve our children's health. Keywords: School; Health; Wellbeing; Children