The Survey of the Environmental Health Status and Safety of Public and Non- Public Elementary Schools in Mashhad, Iran

Background: Providing health facilities and attention to the physical and mental health of students is very important and it can affect on their learning. The purpose of this study was the investigation of the environmental health status and safety of public and non-public elementary schools of Mashhad-Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 public and non-public elementary schools were selected randomly in Mashhad, Iran, 2017. A validated checklist based on instruction from Ministry of Health and Medical Sciences was used for data collection. The checklists were completed in schools by the trained expert by interview and observation. Finally data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 19.0). Results: The mean of the environmental and safety standards for public and non-public elementary schools obtained was 66.47± 13.69 and 63.54 ± 9.59, respectively (total score: 100). This shows the public schools have a better health status than non-public schools. Based on the results of this study, 36.85% of schools had favorable conditions, 33.9 % partly favorable and 24.45 % were undesirable. According to statistical tests, there was no significant difference between public and non- public schools in terms of environmental health status and safety (P>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the environmental health status and safety in most schools were somewhat desirable. Thus, attention to issues such as the proportionality of the schools area with the number of students, the health status of the buffets and as well as the existence of an alarm with special signs in emergency situations seems necessary.