Involvement of teachers, parents and health care providers in various government and private schools of Delhi

Using a multi-stage random sampling method, 24 schools from Delhi, eight each from three broad categories of (i) corporation schools, (ii) other government schools and (iii) private schools were included in this study. The study findings revealed that the involvement of teachers and parents in the school health services (SHS) was more in the private schools as compared to the government-run schools. Most of the health care providers in the government schools were found to be fully involved in the school health functioning as compared to the private schools. However, the frequent transfer of the health care providers outside the SHS created a lot of disturbances in the routine functioning of SHS. Regarding expectations of the school teachers and parents, majority of the government school teachers and government school children's parents expected frequent medical check-up and follow-up of activity for school children. It was also found that involvement of teachers in SHS has a significant role which was practiced in only one of the 24 schools. The findings of the study suggest that major changes in the policies of SHS are required for its improvement where teachers, parents and health care providers are supposed to play key roles.