Speaking at a consultation on 'School Health Programme Implementation' organised by the Dell Foundation and Global Health Strategies here, Azad said the government has to collect reliable data related to the health of almost 13 lakh school children in India.
Azad called for maintaining a database of health indicators of these children, as done in the case of immunisation drive meant for mothers and children.
Referring to the Ministry's Mother and Child Tracking system, he said there was no system to track expecting women earlier but a reliable database is in place now which helps in implementing the immunisation programme.
In implementing a similar scheme for school kids, he suggested that teachers could be designated for the task and a mechanism worked out in consultation with the Human Resource Development Ministry.
Both HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Azad agreed for the first time today to set up a joint working group to monitor the implementation of School Health Programme in India.
The ministers proposed a joint monitoring mechanism for the programme and said modalities will be worked out soon.
The school health guidelines have been prepared by the Health Ministry but implementation remains a huge challenge, Azad said.
A proper data in digitised format would help in tackling childhood diseases to help reduce their burden and monitor the health of children, Azad said.
