Health and school nourishment policies
Friday, 15 May 2009
Mohammad Rajja
SKILLS-based health schooling and the availability of different health services, can help improve the health, sanitation and nourishment of kids. But a superior school health policy should go further than this to secure a safe and helpful psycho-social atmosphere. Such a policy should address issues of abuse of students, sexual harassment, health-related practices of teachers and students, school violence and bullying. It should also guarantee the further education of pregnant schoolgirls and young mothers, to help promote inclusion and equity in the school environment. A policy that helps prevent and reduce harassment by other students and even by teachers can also help fight against withdrawal of girls from schools.
Policies regarding the health-related practices of teachers and students can reinforce health education: teachers can act as positive role models for their students, for example, by not smoking in school. The process of developing and agreeing upon policies draws attention to these issues. The policies are best developed by involving several levels, including the national level, regional and district level, and the school level - including the teachers, children, parents and the wider society. A sustainable school health programme should be clearly defined and inscribed in a common declaration, relating who is accountable for the interventions designed and who will be implementing those interventions.
The Ministry of Health is accountable for the health of school age children, but this age group hardly ever gets precedence over others. Guaranteeing health services to children under five and to pregnant women - the two precedence groups for the Ministry of Health leave foliage little possessions for the school children. School children remains the main concern of the Ministry of Education and if improved learning and education is achieved by improving health and nutrition, afterwards it also becomes their responsibility to promise the health of the school-aged teenager. Thus the protocol needs to be coordinated and shared by the two ministries.
School nourishment provides the structure for implementing every other recommendation intended to recover education through better health. Analysing the nourishment and health condition of school children with focus on causes of energy and micronutrient deficiencies has become a way to engage government in the problems of that age group and the necessary content of the policy for school nutrition programmes and provision of school food services. Many governments have given private enterprises the responsibility for preparing and delivering a ready to eat meal or snack. It is argued that governments should encourage small local enterprises run some school canteens on the privatised service, provided the quality and hygiene of the food served is guaranteed. Governments need to look into what vendors sell to regulate the standards of food hygiene.
School health and nourishment policies need to be supported by the stakeholders at every level. The policies should be plainly implemented, understood and supported by all those responsible for the health and learning of the children. These should cover a broad range of areas vital for the health and growth of school age children: hygiene in the school surroundings; HIV and reproductive health learning; sexual harassment and violence of students; drug free schools, and the like. The task that teachers can engage in is to deliver simple health services through recreation. In addition, public-private partnerships for delivery of school foodstuff services can also be considered.
To be effective, school policies need resources for their implementation. Adequate resources must be made available at the national, regional, district and local levels. Such resources include government financing, but may also include contributions from other donors such as NGOs. To ensure long term sustainability and efficient performance of school health and nourishment policies, parents as well as the community must also participate.
The writer is at Gono Bishwabidyalay Savar. He can be reached at e-mail: arnold_raza@yahoo.com
SKILLS-based health schooling and the availability of different health services, can help improve the health, sanitation and nourishment of kids. But a superior school health policy should go further than this to secure a safe and helpful psycho-social atmosphere. Such a policy should address issues of abuse of students, sexual harassment, health-related practices of teachers and students, school violence and bullying. It should also guarantee the further education of pregnant schoolgirls and young mothers, to help promote inclusion and equity in the school environment. A policy that helps prevent and reduce harassment by other students and even by teachers can also help fight against withdrawal of girls from schools.
Policies regarding the health-related practices of teachers and students can reinforce health education: teachers can act as positive role models for their students, for example, by not smoking in school. The process of developing and agreeing upon policies draws attention to these issues. The policies are best developed by involving several levels, including the national level, regional and district level, and the school level - including the teachers, children, parents and the wider society. A sustainable school health programme should be clearly defined and inscribed in a common declaration, relating who is accountable for the interventions designed and who will be implementing those interventions.
The Ministry of Health is accountable for the health of school age children, but this age group hardly ever gets precedence over others. Guaranteeing health services to children under five and to pregnant women - the two precedence groups for the Ministry of Health leave foliage little possessions for the school children. School children remains the main concern of the Ministry of Education and if improved learning and education is achieved by improving health and nutrition, afterwards it also becomes their responsibility to promise the health of the school-aged teenager. Thus the protocol needs to be coordinated and shared by the two ministries.
School nourishment provides the structure for implementing every other recommendation intended to recover education through better health. Analysing the nourishment and health condition of school children with focus on causes of energy and micronutrient deficiencies has become a way to engage government in the problems of that age group and the necessary content of the policy for school nutrition programmes and provision of school food services. Many governments have given private enterprises the responsibility for preparing and delivering a ready to eat meal or snack. It is argued that governments should encourage small local enterprises run some school canteens on the privatised service, provided the quality and hygiene of the food served is guaranteed. Governments need to look into what vendors sell to regulate the standards of food hygiene.
School health and nourishment policies need to be supported by the stakeholders at every level. The policies should be plainly implemented, understood and supported by all those responsible for the health and learning of the children. These should cover a broad range of areas vital for the health and growth of school age children: hygiene in the school surroundings; HIV and reproductive health learning; sexual harassment and violence of students; drug free schools, and the like. The task that teachers can engage in is to deliver simple health services through recreation. In addition, public-private partnerships for delivery of school foodstuff services can also be considered.
To be effective, school policies need resources for their implementation. Adequate resources must be made available at the national, regional, district and local levels. Such resources include government financing, but may also include contributions from other donors such as NGOs. To ensure long term sustainability and efficient performance of school health and nourishment policies, parents as well as the community must also participate.
The writer is at Gono Bishwabidyalay Savar. He can be reached at e-mail: arnold_raza@yahoo.com