From the next academic year, it will not just be attendance and academics of students, but also their health parameters that will go into the Education Department’s database. Such data of students in government and aided schools will also be tracked and stored in the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS), maintained by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education.
The health module will be added in the 2018-2019 academic year. In the SATS database, a nine-digit code is given to each child, which contains all records pertaining to the child.
Health Department officials said the aim of the project is to ensure better delivery of health services at school. “After a child gets a health check done in school, he/she will be referred to a hospital or a public health centre for follow up. Currently the onus is on parents or teacher to ensure the child goes to hospital. The entire process is manual and the project aims at fixing the missing link in service delivery,” an official explained adding that this would help in better delivery of health services at schools.
P.C. Jaffer, Commissioner of Public Instruction, said the health module could also be used to schedule hospital visits of the child who needs to be screened.
“We also hope the health module will ensure timely medical attention for the child. Though doctors who screen students in school ask them to visit the hospital, the child’s parents or teacher may forget to follow it up. This system aims to make the health service delivery more robust,” an official said. Nutrition and growth of the child can also be monitored over time using this software.
Teachers and parents termed it a good move. Basavaraj Gurikar, president of the Karnataka State Primary Teachers’ Association, said it will help students get immediate medical attention in case they are diagnosed with a medical condition.
Yousuff Aslam Khan, president of the Karnataka State Urdu School Development Monitoring Committee Federation, said, “Parents of students may not recognise symptoms of certain diseases. It will be good if the department is monitoring all aspects pertaining to the child’s health,” he said.
There are around 46.5 lakh students in 48,571 government schools and 14.29 lakh students in 6,882 aided schools.
