Health is rightly described as the greatest of our possessions, one of the most essential to the enjoyment of all our other faculties and blessings; hence it should be highly prized and carefully guarded. However, the predicament is that people in general give little attention to health until it is destroyed. Man’s natural aim in life is happiness which is largely an attitude of the mind. While the laws of physical health have been disseminated in different ways, the question of mental health is sadly neglected, as a result of which, people in general are not aware of the right concept of health, particularly mental health.
The aim of the book Health Education and Administration is not to claim that all illnesses can be avoided by following the fundamental rules of nature. It only says that many, if not most, can be avoided since illnesses are the result of the breaking of the rules that determine nature’s harmony. This book sheds light on the basic concepts and related aspects of health and disease and tells us how to maintain a natural and holistic approach to life, not only to achieve physical and mental health but also to restore the harmony which alone can ensure human happiness, if not the very survival.
The book has a wide coverage and includes all the important aspects of health education, personal hygiene, sanitation, physical exercise, balanced diet, nutrition, immunization, mental health, childhood needs, among other pertinent topics. The syllabi of various educational institutions including medical colleges on the subject of health is vast. There are few books among those available which deal with all the important topices. This book fulfills the needs of students pursuing various courses on health education. It covers a wide area, including the science of health, health education in schools and understanding adolescents, which are issues of recent origin.
The book has been conceptualized in three different sections dealing with physical health, mental health and school health education and programmes. It will be of interest to B.Ed, M.Ed and M.A. (Education) students, and serve as a handbook for parents and in-service school teachers nurturing the innocent and sensitive minds of children and adolescents. It will make the prospective teachers aware about the physical needs and mental health of children and adolescents with whom they are going to be concerned in near future as secondary school teachers. Health administrators can use this book as a reference manual. To those who wish to know about health education the book will offer a richly rewarding reading.
Rashmi Soni, did her graduation and B.Ed from Isabella Thoburn Girls College, Lucknow and obtained her M.Ed degree from University of Lucknow in 1998. She is also Masters in Psychology and Economics. She was awarded her doctorate in Education from Lucknow University. Her doctoral research “Intellectuals’ Expectations from a University: An Exploratory Study” is the first ever research in Higher Education in India. She also has to her credit the first book on Higher Education in India, Higher Education: An Introduction, published recently.
Presently, Dr. Soni is an Assistant Professor in Department of Teacher Education in Mahila Vidyalaya PG College, Lucknow, affiliated to University of Lucknow. She has a number of published papers in many national journals. Her major fields of interest are Higher Education, School Organization, Psychology of Adolescents, and Guidance and Counselling. She is also a practicing counsellor and trainer in Personality Development.
