Quiz hopes to spur better nutrition

With the success of the Coca Cola Spelling Bee and the popularity of NDACC’s annual drug quiz, it seems that competition is becoming an integral part of mass education. Today the people pushing for better nutrition took the opportunity to promote their big quiz coming in October.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

The ad, produced by the Ministry of Education, promotes nutrition and healthy eating. Sherlene Tablada, who plays the role of the mother, happens to be M.O.E.’s coordinator for School Health and Physical Education, SHAPES.

Sherlene Tablada, Co-ordinator, SHAPES

“Although there is no statistics to show, there is evidence to prove that there are a number of health related problems that are affecting our children, directly related to eating and their food intake. For example, we could look at obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and we could see that a lot of students are just not physically active and paying much attention to what they eat. And especially in the secondary schools, where we know that image for a lot of young people is very important. So, they would not necessarily be paying much attention to nutrition and healthy eating.”

Two years ago, the Ministry of Health in conjunction with Belize Mills, started a campaign to promote healthy nutrition in secondary schools.

Sherlene Tablada

“So we decided that this could be a good educational strategy to get them to study and to be more aware of healthy eating and nutrition.”

This year the quiz will be bigger as all thirty-seven secondary schools in the country have been invited to take part in the competition.

Sherlene Tablada

“So we have four zone eliminations countrywide over the next month, and on the eighteenth of October we have a national finals. The person who wins at the national gets to represent Belize in the Caribbean region as a part of a larger nutrition quiz sponsored by the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute.”

Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.

This morning, during a ceremony at Pallotti High School, organisers unveiled the competition’s mascot, Nutro Power. The mascot will also be used in schools throughout the year to promote nutrition and healthy eating among children.