THE EFFECTS OF NATIONAL INSTABILITY ON SCHOOL HEALTH - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

THE EFFECTS OF NATIONAL INSTABILITY ON SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAMME

BY

CHIEF (MRS.)

A. O OLUWATAYO, FWACNSlide2

Introduction

School Health Programme is

the various actions that are taken by the health team

to

promote the highest possible level of health for schoolchildren throughout their years of study.

It

involves the

process of providing learning experience, which favourably influences understanding, attitude and practices relating to individual family and community health. Slide3

The Goals of School Health Programme

Ensure

access to primary health care

Provide a system for dealing with crisis medical situations.

Provide mandated screening and immunization monitoring.

Provide systems for identification and solution to students' health and educational problems.

Provide comprehensive and appropriate health education.

Provide a healthful and safe school environment that facilitates learning.

Provide a system of evaluation of the effectiveness of the school health program.Slide4

Aims and Objectives of School Health Programme

To produce a well adjusted

physically

vibrant child who is free from disease.

To provide healthful school living for both the children and the staff.

To produce individual who know how to care for their health, the health of the family and others.

To protect

children against communicable and other preventable diseases.

It helps to discover physical defects and other abnormal conditions in the school child, and to promote their correction where remediable.

It provides for constant and continual appraisal of the children’s health status

.Slide5

Definition of coordinated school health programme

It is

an

integrated set of planned, sequential, school - affiliated strategies, activities, and services designed to promote the optimal physical, emotional, social, and educational development of students.’

The program involves and is supportive of families and is determined by the local community needs, standards, and requirements.

It is coordinated by a multidisciplinary team and accountable to the community for program quality and effectiveness ” (

Allensworth

,

Wyche

, Lawson, & Nicholson, 1995)Slide6

Components of Coordinated School Health ProgrammeSlide7

Definition of Terms

The term

instability

is often used in social science research to reflect change or discontinuity in one’s

experience.

For the purpose of this lecture,

instability

is best conceptualized as the experience of change in the nation, affecting individual or

family or community .

This change

is abrupt, involuntary, and/or in a negative

direction.

It

is more likely to have adverse implications for child development and school health programme.Slide8

Factors that Affect the Stability of A Nation

Stability can be described as a state of equilibrium where all things are equal- no storm, no disequilibrium; relative peace, quiet and rest.

Political

and administrative changes affecting policy on school health;

In political instability, crises, uneasiness, killing of political opponents and general loss of lives and properties;

Economic and social crises arising from mass unemployment, instability of wages and salaries, high cost of living, general industrial unrest, etc.

Social

factorsSlide9

Social Factors that Affect the Stability of A Nation

Divorce/Death of spouse

War

Disasters - natural and man made

Climate change

Insurgencies e.g. Chibok girls and the

Dapchi

girls

The Nigeria Social Violence Project calculated the number of fatalities by category in Nigeria from 1998 to 2014, and the results are striking: 

Communal clash

e.g

in Niger Delta

Food

insecurity-

famine

Religious unrest

Mass kidnapping

Mass murder

(Herdsmen/Farmer conflicts

)Slide10

Effect of These Factors on School Health Programme

National instability caused by wars, insurgencies, disasters, and communal clashes lead people to being internally displaced in their localities. Other effects are:

Attacks against schools /Physical destruction of school structures

Absenteeism from studies and the effect

Killing

and maiming of children;

Recruitment or use of children as soldiers;

Sexual violence against children;

Abduction of children;

Denial of humanitarian access for children

Food

insecurity/MalnutritionSlide11

School children in burnt down school in armed conflict

Children who are supposed to be in schoolSlide12

Absenteeism

This is one of the major setbacks suffered by the school children as a result of national instability.

Community violence and difficult family circumstances make it difficult for them to take advantage of the opportunity to learn at school.

Students who miss at least 15 days of school in a year are at serious risk of falling behind in school (Dept. of Education, US, 2016).

Education can only fulfill its promise as the great equalizer, when we work to ensure that students are in school every day and receive the supports they need to learn and thrive.Slide13

Killing and MaimingKilling and maiming children during conflict has been identified and condemned by the UN Security

Council

.

Killing and maiming childrenSlide14

Fatalities in Nigeria by Category, 1998-2008 and 2009-2014Slide15

Child Recruitment and Use

Tens

 of thousands of children are recruited and used as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world.

Some

of these children are exploited for forced labour, while some are trafficked across

borders

join military groups to escape poverty, to defend their communities, out of a feeling of revenge or for other reasons

Children

become associated with armed forces and

groups in several ways.

Some of these children are used as political pawns, as thugs to participate in violence, looting and

as bombers.Slide16

Sexual Violence against Children

Sexual violence

increases in

conflict and is often perpetrated against girls and

boys.

The

devastating consequences

include

long-term psychological trauma, health consequences including transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS and early pregnancies.

Young mothers of babies born of rape often stay with the armed group because of the family ties and dependency that have evolved over

time. communities often stigmatize girls who have been associated with armed groups and are suspected of having been raped. They suffer psycho- social trauma.Slide17

Abduction

Some armed groups are opposed to secular and girls’ education, or to girls being treated by male medical personnel and subsequently hamper access to these services.

A

general climate of insecurity as a result of conflict also prevents children, teachers and medical personnel from attending school or seeking medical assistance.

Parents

, for example, may find it too risky to send their children to school in a volatile security situation.Slide18

Denial of Humanitarian Access

Humanitarian access is crucial in situations of armed conflict where civilians, including children, are in desperate need of assistance

.

Denial

of humanitarian access entails blocking the free passage or timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to persons in need

It also involves the

deliberate attacks against humanitarian workers.

Children

may be denied timely access to hospitals because of checkpoints and roadblocks

.Slide19

Food Insecurity/Malnutrition

As a result of instability, food production in terms of farming is affected, leading to food insecurity.

When

children are deprived of access to food and water, malnutrition sets in.

Children

that are not well fed cannot benefit from his education, even if the school structures are in place

.Slide20

General Overview

It is observed that during the course of national instability, children are mostly affected.

They

are usually moved away from their local habitat and their environment into Internally Displaced Camps (IDC)

as internally displaced persons (IDPs)

These

camps provided

by the government

don’t have any

school health programmes put in place.

While

in the camp, the children are

exposed

to poor environmental sanitation leading to

infections.

The children are also exposed to mental trauma, having witnessed all the horrors of

killing.Slide21

General Overview Contd.

From 1998 to 2008, 69% of casualties stemmed from communal

violence,including

those in the Niger Delta,“ and

Boko

Haram

was a negligible entity.

2009 to 2014,

Boko

Haram

was responsible for more than half of the country's violent deaths during those years

Since January 2014, more than 5,000 people have died. (Allen, Lewis and

Matfess

).Slide22

Recommendation

Education policy should address the impacts of instability and expand beyond its focus on improving test scores, which, for many children, is too narrow an approach for securing long-term success.

It

must also tackle the mix of aggression, anxiety and other long-term mental health problems, particularly among boys, that can be dominant legacies of family instability.

Policy

makers need to consider how to better prevent children from being handicapped by emotional or behavioural problems such as aggression, shyness and anxiety.

Children should be supported properly as they go through the now common experience of family instability. Slide23

Recommendation Contd.

Teachers should know more about the part that family disruption can play in childhood difficulties.

Schools

should have mental health

counselors

and identify children at risk.

Early

support would be better than coming down hard on misbehaving children, particularly

boys.Slide24

Recommendation Contd.

Finally, the Nigeria Government should keep to the Safe School Declaration, to which it was a signatory to.

The Safe Schools Declaration, was developed through state consultations led by Norway and Argentina in Geneva throughout the first half of 2015.

This is the instrument for states to endorse and commit to implement the 

Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.

69 states are involved including Nigeria. Slide25

Conclusion

The issue of security and the Rights of the children is of great importance particularly during wars and national instability to ensure they have access to all human needs.

Adequate funding and the manpower to implement all policies that will have positive effects on the school children.

Political instability as well as economic crises should be addressed in such a way that the school health programme is not tampered with.

A school girl going to school in AfghanistanSlide26

References

Deptartment

. of Education, US, (2016).

2013-2014 Civil Rights Data Collection

(CRDC)

Dohoon

Lee and Sara

McLanahan

(2015)

Family Structure Transitions and Child Development: Instability, Selection, and Population Heterogeneity

American Sociological Review

1–26

John Hopkins – School of Advanced and International Studies (2014).

Nigeria Social Violence Project

Goodman

,( 2014);

For students, absences robustly predict academic performance

Onuoha

, F. C. (2014). Why

Do Youth Join

Boko

Haram? United States Pace Institute. 2301 Constitution Ave., NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

UNITED NATIONS –Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed ConflictSlide27