AWARENESS ON HEALTH CARE AND HYGEINE

OF STANDARD VIII STUDENTS IN

THIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT

*Dr.M.Kanmani, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Technology, Tamil Nadu

Teachers Education University, Chennai - 97.

ABSTRACT
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease of infirmity. Health care and hygiene education promotes learning in
other subjects. In general, healthy students learn better. This study aims to find the awareness
level of standard viii students in health care and hygiene. Survey method was used to collect the
data. Mean and critical ratio is used to analyse the data statistically and interpretations were
made based on this. Awareness on health care and hygiene of standard viii students of
Thiruvannamalai district was found to be average.
KEY WORDS: Awareness, Health care and Hygiene, Thiruvannamalai district.
INTRODUCTION
According to Edward King “education is the transmission of life, by the living, to the
living”. John Stuart Mill defined education as “whatever we do for ourselves and whatever is
done for us by others for bringing us nearer to the perfection of our nature is education”.
education have powerful influence in shaping the personality of the child, home unconsciously
helps the child to learn the language, modes of behavior and attitudes towards different
institutions. Church set of the standards of higher values of life. similarly the government, the
ratio, the press etc. have great potentiality of education provided their aims are in conformity
with the truth of life. Influences of formal and informal agencies were recognized by the
totalitarian governments and that is why they extended their control over both, formal and
informal education in order to control the minds of the people.
National Curriculum Framework (2005) suggests science education for higher
secondary students should enable the learner to
i. Know the facts and principles of science and its applications, consistent with the stage of
cognitive development
ii. Acquire the skills and understand the methods and processes that lead to generation and
validation of scientific knowledge

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 iii. Develop a historical and developmental perspective of science and to enable her to view
science as a social enterprise
iv. Relate to the environment, local as well as global and appreciate the issues at the
interface of science, technology, and society
v. Acquire the requisite theoretical knowledge and practical technical skills to enter the
world of work
vi. Nurture the natural curiosity, aesthetic sense, and creativity in science and technology
vii. Imbibe the values of honesty, integrity, cooperation, concern for life and preservation of
environment and
viii. Cultivate ' scientific temper'- objectivity, critical thinking and freedom from fear and
prejudice.
HEALTH CARE AND HYGEINE
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease of infirmity. The definition was updated in the 1986 WHO “Ottawa Charter
for Health Promotion” to say health is a “Resource for everyday life, not the objective of living”,
and “Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical
capacities”.
Health care and hygiene education promotes learning in other subjects. One study
showed that reading and math scores of third and fourth grade students who received
comprehensive health education were significantly higher than those who did not. In general,
healthy students learn better. Numerous studies have shown that healthier students tend to do
better in school. They have higher attendance, have better grades, and perform better on tests.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
New policy on education(1986) has emphasised Activity based, Competency oriented
and child cantered teaching learning process. Realising the importance of personal hygiene, it
has been prescribed as one of the competencies for the upper primary classes. In majority of
schools this concept has been transacted to the students with no follow up. Personal hygiene is a
life skill which has to be followed throughout one's life. Imbibing this value at the formative age
of the students would have a lasting effect.
Most of the students especially the rural ones suffer due to economic depression,
ignorance of hygienic concepts, personal illiteracy, negligence of healthy habits, reluctance to
make use of the available natural resources to maintain health, ignorance of nutrients, balanced
diet, deficiency diseases, food preservation and the medical facilities available around them.
All schools must be aware about the health care and hygiene of their students. School
children spend about one third of their time either in schools or doing school assignments, during
that time they may be exposed to a variety of physical, social and psychological harm by their
peers. It can provide an ideal opportunity to detect poor hygiene practiced by their children. The

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students need good environment from their schools, but it varies from institution to institution.
In general pupils have an opinion that self financing schools having better environment than
government aided and government schools.
The public health importance of local institutions is considered to be an extension of
healthful housing. These institutions are places where people spend much of their time outside
their home. The satisfaction of their physiological and psychological needs, and protection
against infections and accidents, depend on the way hygiene is promoted in these local
institutions. It is possible for these institutions to be the focal point for epidemic diseases such as
diarrhoea and measles due to poor hygiene. And now the country is experiencing a rise in
lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, cancer, diabetes etc. Over the next 5 to 10 years, lifestyle
diseases are expected to grow at a faster rate than infectious diseases in India, and to result in an
increase in cost per treatment.
Though, Science is considered as most powerful subject to compare with other subjects,
students need to develop the skills of reasoning, logical thinking, problem-solving and scientific
attitude. Scientific attitude is the way of thinking reasonably, logically and clearly without any
prejudice or preconceived notion.
During the school visit, the investigator observed that dress cleanliness, hair tidiness,
finger cleanliness, use of kerchief, face cleanliness, using of foot water, hand cleanliness, eating
colourful edibles, washing mouth after meals and disposal of waste food were at sub optimal
lever. Hence , the above aspects of health care and hygiene, School Environment and Scientific
attitude need more attention, why because the age of around 13 to 14 years of students are
studying in standard VIII. Puberty of any individual is the physiological phenomenon. More care
and attention is required among the children during this period. Especially among the girl
children menstrual hygiene is the most significant aspect. Therefore, the investigator has chosen
the standard VIII students as samples for the study.
OBJECTIVES
i. To find out the level of "awareness on health care and hygiene" of standard VIII students.
ii. To find whether there is any significant difference between boys and girls of standard
VIII students in health care and hygiene.
iii. To find whether there is any significant difference between tamil and english medium
standard VIII students in health care and hygiene.
iv. To find whether there is any significant difference between government and government
aided schools standard VIII students in health care and hygiene.
METHODOLOGY
Survey method was adopted for the study.
SAMPLE SELECTION
Fifty high school students were selected using simple sampling technique from two
schools in Thiruvannamali district.

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RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS USED
A scale on Health care and Hygiene(SHCH) was validated by Velladurai and
Kanmani(2018)
Description of the tool
The draft tool contained fifty three items to assess the health care and hygiene developed
by Guttmann
Reliability
Split - half technique was used to establish the coefficient of reliability of scale on
"Awareness on Health care and Hygiene" and it was found to be 0.985. Hence the tool is highly
reliable.
Scoring Procedure
One mark was awarded for correct answer and no mark was awarded for wrong answer.
Statistical Techniques used: Critical ratio (t-test) and mean were calculated for analyzing the
data
Hypothesis Testing
Hypothesis 1
There is no significant difference between boys and girls in health care and hygiene of
standard VIII students.
Table 1
Significant difference between boys and girls of standard viii students in awareness on
health care and hygiene.

Variable Boys N=25 Girls N=25 ‘t’ value Remarks at 5%

df Level
Mean SD Mean SD

Health Care 48 0.097 NS

49.32 6.69 46.88 6.43
& Hygiene

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96), NS - Not significant
It is inferred from the above table that the calculated value of‘t’ (0.097) is less than the
table value (1.67) at 5% level of significance. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore,
there is no significant difference between boys and girls in health care and hygiene of standard
VIII students.
Hypothesis - 2
There is no significant difference between tamil and english medium standard VIII
students in awareness on health care and hygiene.

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Table -2
Significant difference in awareness on health care and hygiene of standard VIII students
with respect to Medium of Instruction

Variables Tamil N=30 English N=20 ‘t’ value Remarks

at 5%
df
Mean SD Mean SD
Level

Health Care 48 3.531 S

49.12 6.69 50.51 5.04
& Hygiene

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96), S- Significant

It is inferred from the above table that the calculatedvalue of ‘t’(3.53) is greater than the
table value of ‘t’ (1.96) at 5% level of significance for df 48. Hence the null hypothesis is
rejected.
Thus, there is significant difference between standard VIII students whose medium of
instruction is tamil and english in their Health care & Hygiene. While, comparing their means
scores, the Awareness on health care and hygiene of standard VIII students whose medium of
instruction is english is better than the students whose medium of instruction is tamil.
Hypothesis 3: There is no significant difference between government and government
aided school standard VIII students in awareness on health care and hygiene.
Table - 3
Significant difference between government and government aidedschool standard viii
students in awareness on health care and hygiene.

Variable Government Government ‘t’ value Remarks at

N=30 aided N=20 5% Level
df
Mean SD Mean SD

Health Care 48 0.16 NS

48.86 6.60 46.95 6.662
&Hygiene

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of 't' is 1.96), NS - Not Significant
It is inferred from the above table that the calculated value of‘t’ (0.16) is less than the
table value (1.96) at 5% level of significance. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore,
there is no significant difference between government and government aided school standard
VIII students in awareness of health care and hygiene.

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FINDINGS
The Major Findings of the Study are as Follows
1. 84% of standard VIII students had an average level of health care and hygiene in
Thiruvannamalai district.
2. There is high positive correlation between health care and hygiene and school environment
of standard VIII students in Thiruvannamalai district.
3. Boys and girls of standard VIII students do not differ significantly in health care and hygiene
and school environment in Thiruvannamalai district.
4. Students studying in Government and government aided school standard VIII do not differ
significantly in health care and hygiene and school environment in Thiruvannamalai district.
EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Health education and creating awareness are useful for the provision of information, but
improving it among the students also needs facilities. The construction of latrines and safe water
sources must be mostly emphasized even if there are resource constraints. Just be aware that the
provision of hardware, such as latrines, hygienic drinking water facilities, good conditioned
classrooms etc. Teaching with good sanitation, and hygienic practices in schools will help the
children to demonstrate good hygiene to their families and community is one method to cut the
toll of lives lost dramatically.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of the present study was to find the level and correlation of health care and
hygiene and school environment of standard VIII students in Thiruvannamalai district. The study
result may be useful in the field of education, further it may serve as database for further
research.
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2. Biswas (2006), “The Impact of Personal Hygiene on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices
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