WHO definition
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For schools, responsibility of caring for children and making adolescents a precious human resource asset of the country, is considerably important. It is necessary to adopt a strategy which covers health needs of all school personnel and which can properly utilize various health promoting opportunities.
In other words, ways to maintain schoolchildren's health through school's health work need to be actively increased and expanded in order to achieve a Holistic Care goal.
According to WHO's (World Health Organization) definition, "A health-promoting school is where all members of the school community work together to provide students with integrated and positive experiences and structures which promote and protect their health (WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 1996)".
Since 1995, WHO has been actively promoting HPS programs. Based on a setting approach, a school is considered as a place where a student needs to spend some time staying there during his or her growing process.
Therefore, according to its definition, HPS is "a school that is constantly strengthening its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working". Moreover, it can:
 
1. Combine health and education administratives, teachers, teachers alliance, students, parents, health service providers and community leader, to work together to make the school a place for health.
2. Endeavor to provide a healthy environment, health teaching and health service. And it can also combine the school's and the community's development programs to offer staff health promoting schemes, nutritional and food safety programs, physical education and leisure activity opportunity, psychological consulation and community support and psychological health plans.
3. Implement policies which respect individual's wellfare and dignity, offer a variety of channels for success, and appreciate personal efforts and achievements.
4. Facilitate health of students, school personnel, households and community personnel; and work together with community leaders to help them understand how the community can enhance or endanger health and education quality (WHO, 1998).
5. Work hard to facilitate health of school personnel, households and community members.