Education Minister launches comic book to sensitise adolescents on holistic well-being

New Delhi: From interpersonal relationships and gender equality to substance abuse prevention, a new comic book launched by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday guides adolescents on maintaining holistic well-being.

”Focused on good health and wellness, this book will motivate students to prioritise holistic well-being while entertaining them through storytelling,” Pradhan said at the launch of the comic book ‘Let’s Move Forward’.

This comic book is ”designed to cater to the diverse requirements of adolescents” and talks about the 11 thematic components of the School Health and Wellness Programme (SHWP), Pradhan said.

”These encompass a comprehensive range of subjects, including emotional well-being, interpersonal relationships, gender equality, nutrition and health, substance abuse prevention, healthy lifestyles, reproductive health, internet safety, and more,” the minister added.

The SHWP, initiated under the Ayushman Bharat campaign in April, 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is an initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Its primary objective is to impart health education, prevent diseases, and enhance access to health services through wellness centres within educational institutions.

The ‘Let’s Move Forward’ comic book is a collaborative effort between the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and UNESCO New Delhi, an official statement said.

It imparts lessons on life skills essential for fostering responsible and health-conscious behaviour among adolescents, it added. The book is accessible in multiple languages, including Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, and Telugu, to ensure inclusivity across linguistic diversity.

The book will be distributed across State School Education Departments, Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs), and Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs), among other educational and health institutions nationwide. It will be disseminated to the 29,000 schools affiliated with the CBSE, thereby expanding its outreach. An electronic version of the comic book will be accessible on the Ministry of Education (MoE), NCERT, UNESCO, and DIKSHA websites, the statement added.