HEALTH ISSUES IN SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS: A REVIEW WITH A FOCUS ON URBAN SLUMS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Schools are highly critical area for children and adolescents’ health advancement, especially in compactly populated urban slums areas where environmental risks and service gaps are critical. Teachers are frontline workers of health advancement in schools, yet little is produced about their capacities, perceptions and constraints in slum contexts of Pakistan. This review article synthesizes, intervention literature, empirical studies and national reports from 2015 to 2025, to describe the major health issues facing school going children in slum areas, teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceived roles towards communicable diseases, identification of barriers to effective school health achievements and practical recommendations for policy and practice.

Key findings of this review were WASH (poor water, sanitation and hygiene) overloading of work on teachers, communicable diseases related to school settings, malnutrition among children and psycho-social issues are persistent in slum area schools, teachers recognize generally these issues but in literature reported limited guidance for community, resources for prevention and improvement of health, training for teachers and institutional sustenance. This review summarizes with recommendations for integrating teachers’ capacity building, linkages of school to health system, community appropriate WASH, mental health measures and strong monitoring system using school census data.