Why health education should be mandatory in every school

October 23, 2024 /Posted byEducationWorld

— Dr. Rahul Mehra is Chairman, Tarang Health Alliance (www.taranghealthalliance.org), National Representative of India, UNESCO Chair, Global Health & Education It’s very difficult to improve health habits of the average Indian adult. Therefore the long-term solution is to educate India’s children to develop healthy habits at a time when their minds are impressionable Most Indians believe we are a healthy nation, given that yoga originated in India, and because we host the highest percentage of vegetarians in the world. But are we truly healthy? According to WHO, the average number of years an Indian can expect to live in “full health” without disease and/or injury is merely 60 years. (cf. Japan 74 years; China 69 years; Bangladesh 64 years). Compared to other Asian countries, India’s health is clearly lagging. Poor health limits capability of individuals to realise their full potential, which impacts their happiness quotient. India is ranked #126 out…

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“An uneducated Indian is not a free Indian. India’s education system remains trapped in regulations that reward compliance over learning and scarcity over opportunity. The solution to exam leaks, coaching factories and unemployability is not more licensing, but more supply. We need more schools, more colleges, more competition and more education entrepreneurs. A 21st-century education must not only impart knowledge but encourage questioning. India does not need fewer cooks in the kitchen; it needs more cooks, more recipes and fewer bureaucrats guarding empty plates.”

- Manish Sabharwal, The Indian Express, (2/6)

India’s examination system rests on a foundational assumption that the process is fair, even when outcomes disappoint, and once that trust erodes, the system loses its legitimacy. This is not merely a technical controversy but a credibility crisis, because digitising evaluation is not the same as reforming it. Technology can assist evaluation, but it cannot replace the intellectual responsibility that fair assessment demands. The controversy has shown that technology has not removed subjectivity or error, it has merely shifted them into a different format. Educational institutions cannot run experiments on students whose futures depend on these results, and the obligation is to anticipate failure before implementation, not offer explanations after the damage is done.

- P John J Kennedy, The Indian Express, (26/5)

Why health education should be mandatory in every school

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