Pilot programme launched for healthy schools
The concept of health has changed in recent years from a narrowly defined absence of disease to a broad notion of physical, mental and environmental well being. Today News 5’s Jacqueline Woods was on hand as a pilot programme was launched to make Belize’s schools healthy places to learn.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Lack of parental involvement and discipline, poor nutrition, low self-esteem and other social ills are holding back the education of many school children. The findings were the result of research conducted at schools across the country by the Ministry of Education.
Sherlene Tablada, Coordinator, SHAPES
“Schools were not doing as well as they should. And when we look at the various cross-sections of schools across the country, we realize that they were plagued with various issues that were not necessarily academic. When we looked today at the situation within society, the drugs, the crime, the violence, HIV/AIDS, which is staring us right in the face.”
To address the problem, the Ministry of Education has embarked on an ambitious initiative that promises to establish most, if not all, learning institutions as “Child Friendly Health Promoting Schools.” Sounds good, but how will it work?
Sherlene Tablada
“What happen is that a number of organizations such as NOPCA, B.F.L.A., Alliance Against Aids, the Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Human Development, all the organizations that are partners with SHAPES will come together and help those schools work through those issues, whatever they are.”
The initiative will first be tested in eighteen schools before it is introduced nationwide.
Sherlene Tablada
“We’ve selected a cross section of schools. The schools come from across the country; urban, rural, a variety of social economic backgrounds. And so we are using this to see how the initiative works and how best to model a programme that over the next five years can spread throughout the country.”
Today, the Child Friendly Health Promotion Schools Initiative was launched at the S.J.C. auditorium. Tablada says the next step will be to meet with the participating schools to help develop their individual action plans. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
