School Health Services in India: Status, Challenges and the Way Forward

Schools provide a crucial platform for health and well-being interventions targeting children and adolescents. Early promotive and preventive initiatives are vital for enabling children and adolescents to reach their optimal potential, thereby adding to the country’s social return-on-investment, creating a favourable demographic dividend. This review analyses the evolution of school health initiatives in India, including the current curriculum proposed under the Ayushman Bharat program. The manuscript highlights the challenges, and gaps in implementation of the current school health programs and proposes potential pathways for bridging these gaps for promotion of adolescent well-being. The review also discusses the concept of Health Promoting Schools and suggests adaptations and key recommendations to Indian context regarding ‘how’ to translate it into on-field reality based on the appraisal of successful case studies from other countries. Though India started school health services more than 100 y ago, the school health programmes in most Indian states are weak and fragmented, with piecemeal health screening with minimal focus on health promotion and well-being. The recently launched School Health and Wellness initiative under the Ayushman Bharat program has lots of promise. However, it needs to be translated into effective implementation to prevent it from meeting the fate of its forerunner programs. The school health program needs to move beyond the screening centric approach and be aspirational and holistic in nature focusing upon the overall well-being of the adolescents. Concerted efforts through intersectoral convergence are needed to optimally utilise the platforms of schools for promotion of adolescent well-being.