Teachers are trained through a cascade system to administer deworming drugs in schools, to educate children on worms and how to prevent transmission, and to build awareness with the local community. Officials from the Ministry of Education and Health at all administrative levels should also take part in the training cascade, as trainers or participants.

Developing materials for training
In many instances resources already exist for training cascades, and these should be reviewed, developed and piloted. They should also be adapted to local context, including sanitation, worm names and types of infection endemic to the area.

Training materials could include a Training Kit, Drug Distribution Instructions for Teachers and a Health Education Handout for Teachers. Please contact us if you would like samples of teacher training materials.

Planning the training structure and schedule
In order to train a large number of teachers, cascading training sessions or step-down training is effective. For example, from national to regional; regional to sub-regional; and sub-regional to local teacher level (see figure below). Cascaded training design also provides opportunity for training materials, reporting and monitoring forms and deworming drugs to be distributed from national level through to teachers.

Master training: Should be carried out in a team comprising both the Ministries of Education and Health, and any key technical bodies. The number of master trainers is determined by the number of next level trainings to be conducted with 3 or 4 master trainers attending each. In approximately 2 days, master trainers can be briefed thoroughly on a roll out plan and extensively trained in school-based deworming, equipping them to begin conducting the next level of training sessions.

Next level of training: Master trainers train the next level of personnel (regional level, for example) on how to deworm in schools. These master trainers then supervise as these regional personnel train sub-regional personnel. The number of cascade levels is determined by the administrative structure of the country as well as population and number of schools/teachers, and each level of training should take at least one day, plus additional days for supervision.

Teacher Training: Teachers can be trained in half a day, and each session should include up to 30 teachers. Two teachers from each school should be trained to lead the program in their school, and ideally one should be the head teacher. These trainings will be led by 2 personnel from the cascade level just above the school (this could be a sub-regional, regional or other level depending on the cascade size) and should take place approximately 7-10 days before deworming, to allow time for teachers to communicate the program but also to ensure the training is fresh in their mind on deworming day. Time should be allotted at the end of the training session for teachers to collect the appropriate amount of deworming drugs and store them in a locked, dry location at school.

Overview of a training cascade