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School hygiene or school hygiene education is a healthcare science, a form of the wider school health education. School hygiene is a study of school environment influence; it explores affection of schooling to mental and physical health of students.
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The primary aims of school hygiene education is to improve behavior through useful practices connected to personal, water, food, domestic and public hygiene. Also, it aims to protect water and food supplies and to safely manage environmental factors.
History of school hygiene
School hygiene expert Fletcher B. Dresslar explained in his 1915 work School Hygiene that “School Hygiene is the branch of this science [hygiene] which has to do with the conservation and development of the health of school children.” The school was looked upon as existing “not only for the welfare of each child in attendance, but also for the welfare of the state and the nation.” Dresslar broke school hygiene up into two essential parts: “the physical environment of the child during his school life” and “the laws of mental hygiene as illustrated by the proper adjustment of the subjects of the curriculum to the mental powers and needs of the children.”
School hygiene as a major discipline was at its zenith in the United States and England in the late 19th and early 20th century, with major works of the subject being offered by various authors, among them Sir Arthur Newsholme, Edward R. Shaw, Robert A. Lyster, and G.G. Groff. After this time period, the school hygiene discipline became part of a comprehensive look at school health education; the American School Hygiene Association became inactive, and the American School Health Association was founded. Exclusive focus on hygiene was no longer prominent.
School hygiene still appears to be an active, separate discipline in other parts of the world, like Eastern Europe and developing countries where school sanitation norms are not as well established.
School environment
Schools can determine children's health and well-being by their exposure to a healthy or unhealthy school environment. There are lot of architectural and aesthetic aspects related to a school's hygienic needs, such as: school's building plan, safe water supply, disposition of waste, emergency lighting, heating and ventilation, as well as adequate school facilities (halls, classrooms, and common areas) and furniture.
School location
Due to health reasons (influence of noise, exhaust gases from vehicles, and potential risk of accident), schools in an urban and suburban areas should be located more than 100 meters away from major traffic and causeways. Some studies suggest it is best to orient and design a school building so that natural light can be a part of the lighting scheme of the school, and that buildings should avoid being placed in a valley, due to air quality issues.
Importance of school hygiene
Schools have a central place in the health of a community. Inappropriate hygiene in schools can cause many diseases. If there are no school sanitation and hygiene facilities, or if they aren't maintained and used adequately, schools become places where diseases are likely transmitted.