Only 30% of secondary teachers trained in health education, study finds

Fewer than a third of secondary school teachers surveyed in Bangladesh have had any training in health education or well-being, according to a government study of the Health Promoting Schools Programme.

At a glance

Title: Situation Analysis Report on the Health Promoting Schools Programme in Bangladesh
Published by: Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), Ministry of Education, with support from UNESCO. The programme is implemented by DSHE and the National Academy for Education Management (NAEM).
Published: July 2026
Method: survey of 458 students and 206 teachers in 48 secondary schools across all eight divisions, plus 24 focus groups, 12 interviews and a review of policy, curriculum and textbooks

Main findings

Teacher training is thin. Only 30.1% of surveyed teachers had received health education or well-being training. Rates were lower among teachers in government and rural schools, and training was often short.
Policy awareness is low. Many teachers were unfamiliar with national school health provisions.
Habits are ahead of knowledge. Students reported many healthy practices, but their overall health knowledge was rated poor.
Services vary by school type. Students in non-government schools were more likely to report clean toilets, safe drinking water, anti-bullying measures and a dedicated health worker.
Check-ups are not routine. Regular health check-ups were not standard for many students, and arrangements for responding to accidents were not consistently reported.
Families are supportive. Nearly 93% of students said their parents encourage healthy practices at home.
Curriculum gaps. Road safety, drug and suicide prevention, emergency response, environmental health, and menstrual and reproductive health need more attention.

Limitation: the findings on school facilities reflect what students reported, not physical inspections.

What the report recommends

Better coordination among the education, health, youth and sports, women and children affairs, and social welfare ministries
More teacher training, including first aid
Referral links between schools and local health facilities
Improved sanitation and nutrition in schools
Qualified physical education teachers and regular physical activity
Dedicated financing for school health

Why it matters

The report gives NGOs working on school health, WASH in schools, adolescent health and education a clear, government-owned list of gaps to plan around. Teacher training and school sanitation are areas where NGO programmes and donor funding can directly support the recommendations.

Image: an illustration generated with Google Gemini. It is not a photograph of a real classroom.