Mainstreaming of One Health Concepts in the Basic Education Curriculum

The teachers of Rujiraphat School, Suan Phueng District, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand piloted mainstreaming of One Health and other health concepts in the basic education curriculum. Several activities were undertaken to implement this mainstreaming. The first was the development of One Health Modules for kindergarten until Grade 9 incorporating six topics by SEAMEO TROPMED Network in collaboration with SEAMEO STEM-ED and Ministry of Education, Thailand. The topics include: (i) Basic One Health concepts; (ii) Handwashing; (iii) Pets; (iv) Rabies; (v) Malaria; and (vi) Worms. This was followed by a training of teachers teaching science and health education on the use of the Modules. The actual mainstreaming in health education and science subjects took about 2 months during which random class observation of the mainstreaming activity was undertaken. Pre and post-tests of students on the topics mentioned were also done. After the classroom mainstreaming a Feedback workshop was organized to gather implementation experiences from the teachers and the students.

The experience of mainstreaming was considered very relevant and enjoyable by both the teachers and the students. The topics included in the modules were appreciated by the students and found them to be useful to their daily lives especially the topics on handwashing and pets. The teachers agreed that these concepts can be mainstreamed not only in health education and science subjects in mostly all the subjects in the basic education curriculum. The support of the school administration, the availability of the modules and a number of teaching materials made facilitated the mainstreaming. This experience will be shared to all the countries in Southeast Asia region using several platforms and opportunities such as a planned regional workshop.

The Curricular mainstreaming is part of the “Promoting One Health Education in Border School” project of SEAMEO TROPMED Network. This project is a component of an umbrella project funded by Chevron and in partnership with Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN).