Summary: Objective: Dentalcaries and gingivitis are diseases that measures the Oral Health status in a given population. OralHealth is also influenced by attitudes, beliefs and educational level of the individuals. Thepurpose of this study was to identify the risk factors associated gingivitis in children between 11and 13 years coming from one public school and other private school in Cali. Materials and methods:A descriptive cross sectional study was performed using 69 male children with gingivitis (index ofSilness and Löe). A statistical analysis to identify related social and higyene factors associatedwith gingivitis was performed. Results: Data were taken from children of both type of educativeinstitutions. An index 2 of gingivitis was frequent in children from public school (56.7%) while agingivitis index 1 was more prevalent in children from the private institution (64.1%). A statisticrelationship was determined for the severity of gingivitis, the access of the children to the healthOral campaigns and the parents wage rate. Conclusions: In spite of the massive campaigns ofinformation about the oral health habits, these study determined lack of knowledge in Oral healthissues among children. Variables like exposure to health campaigns, coming form Public School andwage of parents resulted associated with gingivitis. Key words: Gingivitis. School children. Riskfactors.