New Delhi: From interpersonal relationships and gender equality to substance abuse prevention, a new comic book launched by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday (August 29) guides adolescents on maintaining holistic well-being. Minister Pradhan said at the launch of the comic book ‘Let’s Move Forward’,
Focused on good health and wellness, this book will motivate students to prioritise holistic well-being while entertaining them through storytelling.
This comic book is “designed to cater to the diverse requirements of adolescents” and talks about the 11 thematic components of the School Health and Wellness Programme (SHWP), Minister Pradhan said. He added,
These encompass a comprehensive range of subjects, including emotional well-being, interpersonal relationships, gender equality, nutrition and health, substance abuse prevention, healthy lifestyles, reproductive health, internet safety, and more.
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The SHWP, initiated under the Ayushman Bharat campaign in April, 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is an initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Its primary objective is to impart health education, prevent diseases, and enhance access to health services through wellness centres within educational institutions.
The ‘Let’s Move Forward’ comic book is a collaborative effort between the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and UNESCO New Delhi, an official statement said.
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It imparts lessons on life skills essential for fostering responsible and health-conscious behaviour among adolescents, it added.
The book is accessible in multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, and Telugu, to ensure inclusivity across linguistic diversity.
The book will be distributed across State School Education Departments, Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs), and Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs), among other educational and health institutions nationwide. It will be disseminated to the 29,000 schools affiliated with the CBSE, thereby expanding its outreach. An electronic version of the comic book will be accessible on the Ministry of Education (MoE), NCERT, UNESCO, and DIKSHA websites, the statement added.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
