Over 50 lakh students of classes VI to XII in government and government aided schools in the State will soon become “Health Ambassadors” of the Health department, and take information on disease prevention to their families.
Launching three budget announcements made for the department on Monday, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said that the department plans to reach out to one crore families with awareness on disease prevention through school students. A total of 50,76,000 students of 16,566 schools would be trained once every three months by officers of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) teams. The training would be in the form of group discussions, audio visuals and quiz competitions, while awareness on hand hygiene, food safety, regular exercise and timely medical screening would be created.
Another announcement that saw implementation was a programme to impart life skills training for adolescents including on decision making, problem solving, good use of social media, stress management and healthy relationships.
Three new mobile medical teams to screen school students under RBSK were also flagged off. The teams will screen students in Chennai, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram districts. There were 805 medical teams in the State of which 35 are in cities, he said, according to a press release.
Published – June 24, 2025 12:42 am IST
