National School Health Policy, 2014

School Health issues are among the priorities of the Government of Rwanda and are addressed in various sectors and strategic plans. The School Health Strategic Plan 2013/14-2017/18 calls upon an adoption of a holistic approach to school health, covering issues related to HIV and AIDS, multiple acute and chronic health conditions, disabilities and special educational needs, sexual and reproductive health, hygiene, school feeding, school environment, mental health, trauma and sports. The Policy targets students in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools and aims to facilitate the optimum development of learners by developing schools as environment conducive to health and addressing barriers to learning that will hinder the learners’ benefit from education. The Policy vision is to ensure that all Rwandan school children shall achieve their full development potential, by studying in a healthy environment in child-friendly schools, free from disease, prejudice and violence. The objectives are divided into; short-term- to provide preventive and curative services that address needs of school children, to ensure provision of safe water and adequate sanitation facilities in schools and to improve and enhance knowledge of students and teachers about SH, including sexual and reproductive health and GBV, prevention of HIV and AIDS and other diseases, management of disabilities and special learning needs, hygiene, nutrition, physical education and mental health; medium-term- to improve attendance and completion rates, due to better health status of children, to increase access to education, especially for girls, OVC’s and other disadvantaged children, and to create a healthy, safer and hygienic environment for the school community, so as to ensure effective teaching and learning for both teachers and students; and long-term- to improve secondary graduation rates of students, to improve preparedness of students for tertiary opportunities, to have a healthier and better qualified workforce, and responsible parents for the next generations, to decrease medical health care costs, due to prevention and early detection of diseases in school children and to improve equality, equity and reconciliation