Abstract

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a new step in portraying health and wellness in terms of educational planning, as it insists on health checks, Well-being Ambassadors/Clubs, yoga, physical education, life-skills education, and addressing nutrition, hygiene, and mental health issues since the early education of children. Though research in this area has resulted in a substantial body of literature on school health education in India, the research remains uncoordinated as different branches of studies (public health, health education, dentistry, nursing) have investigated the topic without attempting to relate it to NEP 2020 in its key provisions.

To systematize the findings on the studied issue in school health education in India (2014-2026, mostly 2020-2026) to define NEP 2020’s potential to shape school health education, analyzing the difficulties connected with its introduction, and formulating the relevant recommendations.

We adhered to PRISMA Reporting Guidelines. Database search included PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and PMC. Our database search revealed a total of 163 items. We excluded 41 duplicates, leading to 122 items being screened by title/abstract and 106 full-text articles being reviewed for eligibility based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria across seven themes (school health interventions, mental health and life skills, health-promoting schools, health literacy and nutrition, hygiene and menstrual health education, sexual and reproductive health education, and NEP 2020 policy analyses). A total of 37 articles met all the criteria.

The articles were grouped into seven categories, consisting of a majority of articles focusing on school-based NCD, hygiene, oral health and tobacco (n=13) and mental health/life skills (n=8). The research shows that structured interventions which are integrated into the curriculum have the potential to enhance the knowledge, attitudes, and health-related practices among students according to the evidence available. Important gaps that need to be filled in through research include the need for training teachers in the new techniques and addressing rural-urban and gender disparities, stigma surrounding menstruation and sexual/reproductive health issues, and underdeveloped systems of monitoring and evaluating the research.

The NEP 2020 offers a unique opportunity for incorporating health education throughout the entire educational journey from pre-school to the final school grade or Class 12. For this to come true, however, teachers will need to be properly trained, and standardised curricula, monitoring systems, as well as resources for the vulnerable parts of the country, will have to be implemented.

Keywords: guru-shishya parampara, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), higher education, experiential learning, mentorship, holistic education, decolonizing education.