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Comparative Analysis of Health Behaviors and Protective Factors in Students Attending International Schools and Government Schools across India

Sabina Kumar1, Jamie Shah1, Pranav Barve1, Sumanta Chaudhuri1,

1Hemet Global Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University

American Journal of Educational Research. 2022, 10(2), 103-110. DOI: 10.12691/education-10-2-5
Received January 20, 2022; Revised February 21, 2022; Accepted February 27, 2022

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a self-administered global school-based student health survey (GSHS) in 2007 to students attending schools under the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The survey collected data on various health behaviors; however, this sample of data was missing a large proportion of Indian children attending government schools (GS). The objective of this study is to compare health behaviors and protective factors between CBSE and GS students in India. Children attending nine randomly selected GS in Bangalore, India were orally surveyed using questions from the GSHS. While dietary and hygiene factors are compromised for students in GS, they appear to engage in healthy social relationships more often than CBSE students. These dissimilarities between GS and CBSE schools imply that the gap in health factors between the two school systems remain a complex problem and that school-type specific solutions are required to address these issues.

Keywords:

world health organization, central board of secondary education, interpersonal relations, malnutrition, hand hygiene
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