Heart checkup in schools poses big challenge for Education dept

BENGALURU: The Health Department has instructed schools to conduct health check-ups for students amid growing concerns about heart attacks in youngsters. Along with incorporating lessons on heart attacks in school textbooks, the Health Department has also decided to conduct health check-ups for students.

However, conducting health check-ups for students is a big challenge. There is confusion regarding which classes to prioritise for the check-ups — whether it’s students from Classes 1 to 10 or only pre-university students.

The Education Department is considering conducting health check-ups for students of Classes 8, 9, 10, and pre-university. But the challenge lies in conducting checkups in private schools, as opposed to government and aided schools.

With over one crore students in the state, including those in government, aided and private schools, conducting health check-ups on such a large scale is a daunting task for both the Health and Education Departments.

The Education Department will take a decision on the health check-up process based on the Health Department’s instructions.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the state has a total of 71,559 schools, comprising 46,805 government schools, 6,339 aided schools, 16,867 private schools, and 1,548 other schools.

The total student enrollment in the state is 10,479,629, with 40,70,119 students in government schools, 11,82,861 students in aided schools, 4,85,324 students in private schools, and 3,73,505 students in other schools. For Classes 1 to 10, the student enrollment is significant.

Additionally, for pre-university courses (PUC), there are 13,65,731 students, with 3,38,477 students in government colleges, 2,20,805 students in aided colleges, 6,76,215 students in private colleges, 5,415 students in BBMP colleges.