Nutrition Friendly School Initiative Pilot Testing -Indian Experience

Presented bySwati Parmar

Programmme ManagerHRIDAY-SHAN

New Delhi, India

HRIDAY- SHAN Team Involved in Pilot Testing

• Dr. K Srinath Reddy, Hony. Executive Director, Eminent Cardiologist & Epidemiologist

• Ms. Monika Arora, Director, Social Scientist

• Ms. Swati Parmar, Programme Manager, Social Work Professional

• Ms. Shalini Bassi, Project Officer, Nutritionist

NFSI – Pilot Testing

• Sample : 4 schools ( 2 government and 2 private)

located in New Delhi, India

• Undertaken by HRIDAY- SHAN in collaboration with

Department of Nutrition for Health and Development

(NHD ) WHO, Geneva

Schools contacted for Pilot Testing Contacted 7 schools involved in HRIDAY- SHAN’s programs

4 out of 7 schools contacted, gave consent for the pilot test

S.No. Name of the School Type of school Management

1. Mahaveer Senior Secondary School, GT Karnal Road

Private (Co-educational School

Private

2. Arvind Gupta DAV School, Model Town Private (Co-educational School

Private

3. Kendriya Vidhalaya No.2, Delhi Cant Government (Co-educational School

Central Government

4. Sarvodaya Kanya VidhalayaWest Patel Nagar

Government (Only Girls School)

Directorate of Education

Process Undertaken

Briefing meeting with Principals and Teacher coordinators – second week of January ‘07

Selection of CAG members – third week January ’07

Formation of CAG – third week January ’07

Meeting of CAG members – fourth week January ’07

Queries answered by HRIDAY- SHAN members – fourth week ’07

Collection of SAT and Feedback questionnaires from participating schools – second week February ’07

Interaction with teacher coordinators during the visit conducted for collecting SAT and feedback questionnaires – second week February ‘07

Feedback from field: Principals/ Teachers

S. No Name of the school Feedback

1 Mahaveer Senior Secondary School, GT Karnal Road

• No written nutrition policy

•Difficulty in CAG formation due to occasional visit of management representatives

•No formal structure for health promotion but undertake activities in collaboration with NGOs such as HRIDAY- SHAN

•No elaborate program for promoting physical activity in the school

2 Arvind Gupta DAV School, Model Town

•Junk food totally banned in the school canteen

•School plays a vital role in promoting healthy snacks in the school canteen

•Schools prospectus and students diary has guidelines which encourages the students to bring cost effective healthy food in their tiffins

•During PTMs resource persons are invited to provide information on healthy diet to parents

•Promotion of physical activity only through PT classes and few classes on yoga. Facility of gym available for students

S. No Name of the school Feedback

3 Kendriya Vidhalaya No.2, Delhi

Cant

•No written nutrition policy exists

•No formal structure that decides health promoting policies

in school

•Undertake health promotion activities only in collaboration

with NGOs like HRIDAY-SHAN

•No formal program for promoting physical activity in the

school

4 Sarvodaya Kanya Vidhalaya,

West Patel Nagar

•No written nutrition policy exists

•No formal structure that decide health promoting policies

in school

•No canteen facility available within school

•No elaborate program for promoting physical activity in

the school

Feedback from field: Principals/ Teachers Contd...

Compiled Feedback of Pilot Testing in Delhi, India

• No canteen facility available in government school (Sarvodaya Kanya Vidhalaya, West Patel Nagar)

• Private schools have canteens which is contracted to an outside vendor. Menu is decided by the vendors with no role of school authorities

• Only one private school (Arvind Gupta DAV School, Model Town) had a role to play in deciding the menu for the canteen

• All the schools contacted for piloting faced difficulty in including members from management staff in CAG as their visit to school is occasional

• None of the schools could include representative from local health authorities

Need for NFSI Programme In India

• No written nutritional policy in schools

• Most of the schools do not have nutritional friendly school promotion program

• Absence of any formal structure to decide health promoting policy in school

• No sustainable health educational program in the school curriculum- HRIDAY-SHAN is the only program which aims to influence school, home and community environment

• Lack of formal initiative for promoting physical activity –existing irregular physical education classes

Need for Health promotion programmes like HRIDAY- SHAN and a formal structured initiative such as NFSI

Suggested Modifications

• Formation of Core Action Group (CAG):

o CAG should comprise of representatives from school( Principal ,teacher coordinator & student), home (parents), community (member of neighbourhood Resident Welfare Association/ local body) as all the required members for CAG presently mentioned in NFSI do not have regular periodic meetings in most schools at one platform

• Schools should be designated as a Nutritional Friendly School on the basis of developing written policies that guide health promotional activities at school, home and community level

• Such initiatives in Government schools require partnership with Directorate of Education, Delhi Government

• Section on written nutrition policy given in SAT require adaptation to be more country specific

About HRIDAY - SHANAbout HRIDAY - SHAN

HRIDAY* HEALTH RELATED INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

AMONGST YOUTH

To enhance the knowledge related to the content areas of HRIDAY educational program

To positively influence attitudes towards health promoting behaviors

To alter practices of students and of their parents towards healthy practices

OBJECTIVES

* HRIDAY means ‘Heart’ in most Indian Languages

AREAS OF FOCUS

Diet & Nutrition Physical Activity Tobacco Avoidance Environment

SHAN *(Student Health Action Network) is an offspring of HRIDAY

SHAN was formed as a result of identification of environmental barriers that restricted adoption of learnt knowledge into behaviour.

Intent of establishing SHAN was to address these barriers through health promoting policies, through enabling regulatory and legislative measures that are identified by students.

SHAN is a network of school and college students (14-20 years) of Delhi, whose members meet periodically to discuss health policy issues and articulate their demands for societal measures conducive to sustainable health. It represents the youth advocacy component of HRIDAY.

LEARNING THE FACT

HRIDAY SHAN

“Let’s Talk Health” “Debate the Present to Define the Future”

ATCOLLEGE

LEVEL(3 Years)

LEARNING TO ACT

Classes VI-VIII AT SCHOOL LEVEL Classes IX-XII

The HRIDAY Concept

Education Awareness

+

Environment Skills/Norms

+

Activism Ownership ----------------

= CHANGE ----------------

School- Community Connections: Interactions at the National Level

Strategies followed by HRIDAY-SHANAt school level

Orientation workshop for Teachers

Training workshop for Peer leaders

Teachers Training Manual

Peer leader training Manual

Students Handbook (worksheets)

Student charter on health of our land

Intra and inter school/ college competitions

Students Parliament on Health

Lectures & interactive sessions on health themes by resource persons

Other IEC Material for school: posters, fact sheets, booklets, films, interactive games

At home level

Home Team Material

Post cards

At community level

Peer lead health activism Health Art by Youth Community mobilisation by Youth

HRIDAY-SHAN’S

Learning Resource

Material

IEC materials on Diet & Nutrition

HEALTH PROMOTING

SCHOOL PROGRAMME

Intent: Children learn best in a safe, healthy & cognitively motivating environment

OBJECTIVES

• Enhance health awareness among school/college students

• Enable students to take care for themselves and others.

• Train them to pursue peer education for health behaviour conformist*

• Facilitate students to make responsible and productive decisions

• Improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community through school/college

* Only at school level

Activities for Health promotion In schools

Balanced Diet

Sensitization of students and parents on healthy diet through classroom activities and Home Team Material.

Poster display on diet and nutrition in classroom and in school/college.

Promotion of healthy snacks in the school canteen*.

Encouraging students to bring cost effective healthy food in their tiffins.

Encouraging students to put healthy food stalls during school fetes and college festivals.

Physical activity

Sensitization of students and parents about importance of being physically fit through classroom activities and Home Team Material*.

Poster display highlighting importance of being physically fit.

Encouraging students to practice some form of physical activity regularly during games period*.

Developing innovative programmes for making physical activity sessions enjoyable to students*.

Encourage students to adopt measures for including different forms of physical activity in their daily living habits.