Country Profile

Mauritius

Health Promotion in Schools:Promoting a healthy lifestyle

by Hon. Dr. Dhaneshwar Beeharry

 

 
 

General Information

1. Project title: Promoting a healthy life style among students (primary and secondary sub-sectors)

2. Start year: September 1997

3. End year: December 2003

4. Executing agency: Ministry of Education, Science & Technology

5. Supervising agency: Ministry of Education, Science & Technology

6. Estimated cost:

7. Project description: The projects aims at promoting the overall development of the students of the primary and secondary cycles by ensuring that they do enough physical exercise and that they have a proper medical screening and follow up.

 
 
Objectives
 
The aim of this project is to look into the quality of health in schools. As stated in the draft document of the "Police on Educational Reforms".
 
"All school activities center around the overall development of the child, s/he is the raw resource that has to be moulded into a thinking, creative being who can both integrate into, as well as transform, society".
 
 
Justification
 
To be able to reach this objective, it is very important that measures be taken from the very beginning of the school cycle to ensure that students are so nurtured that they can remain healthy throughout the years of study and beyond.
 
Good health implies a high level of cognitive, physical as well as moral development which will have a direct impact on the student's overall performance in school as well as the adult he will become, hence the society which will emerge.
 
The main components are essential in this overall development:
 
(i) A balanced diet
(ii) Physical exercise/movement education
(iii) A proper medical screening and follow-up
 
The Mauritian system of education is academically very competitive and both at primary and secondary levels and it leaves very little room for creative thinking, music and arts, movement education. The Mauritian style of life has made a large percentage of the population prone to illness - diabetes, cholesterol, heart and kidney problems are among the most common ones. The young generation is very much at risk and it is imperative that corrective measures be taken as early as possible.
 
 
Present Situation
 
1. In spite of the goodwill of the Ministry of Health, it is practically impossible for this Ministry to look into the health problems of 117,795 primary students (statistics for year 1995).
 
2. The School Medical Service carries out the screening of children of
standard I at the beginning of each year and is also present on boards dealing with the welfare of children.
 
3. The various units of the Ministry of Health - Non Communicable diseases, AIDS, etc. in their program of prevention work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to sensitize students to the necessity of looking after their health.
 
4. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has a Health and Anti-Drug Unit which is active in the secondary sub sector, giving advice to students, setting up Health Clubs in the schools to inform them of the risks of drugs. However, the staff is too small and the officers are not able to be regular in their visits to 130 schools.
 
5. Programmes of Family Life Education and Human Values have and important module on health.
 
6. A school feeding project was launched in primary schools in Mauritius in 1970 to ensure that children be provided with a balanced diet. Research has constantly been pointing out that poor nutrition is a major cause of the lack of concentration in studies. Bread, cheese, milk and dried fruit were supplied to the pupils. When the project ended in December 1976, the Government decided to maintain the distribution of bread; each pupil is given one loaf which very often goes to the bin or is given to animals. This scheme of bread costs Rs 150,000 per day.
 
7. The school canteen is run by the PTA and by private individuals who, most of the time, provide junk food. Pupils buy much from hawkers.
 
8. The concept of health and its attributes are taken up in the primary curriculum in Environmental Studies, laying emphasis on hygiene, nutrition as well as physical education.
 
9. Movement education is a new concept which is being very gradually infiltrated. It appears on the time-table, but in most schools, this allotted time is used for academic studies.
 
10. In ZEP schools, comprehensive continuous Assessment in Movement Education has been introduced in 1996 in standard IV and will go up to standard VI. The NCCRD has prepared a Teacher's Guide for standards I-VI which has been distributed to primary schools in Rodrigues.
 
11. The National Inspectorate has been asked to insist on Movement Education periods to be used as appearing on the time-table. MCA will be asked to include Movement Education as part of their regular programme.
 
12. The budget of 1996-97 has created 29 posts of Movement Education teachers who have already being trained by MIE. To be able to staff each school with a specialist teacher will take many years, MIE being able to train only 50 teachers every two years.
 
13. The Ministry of Youth and Sports has provided some equipment which will benefit only 50 schools. It gives support to some schools for a few sports - table tennis, basketball, swimming, martial arts and karate. It has also agreed to put its infrastructure equipment, and resource persons at the disposal of pupils during school hours.
 
14. Children have much pocket-money and they tend to buy food which has very little nutritional value. Many of them do not have a proper breakfast before coming to school for different reasons - poverty for some, lack of time for others, parents not insisting upon it. The Mauritian life style itself has changed.
 
 
Action proposed
 
Although much work is done, it is felt that problems are still latent. In order to bring some remedy and measures of prevention, steps will be taken as follows:
 
(i) The institution of a health card for the student which will take care of all the years that s/he spends in the formal school system. It will spell out health problems since his/her entry at primary level. Children with mild handicaps will be looked after at the very start of their school life. A proper and detailed examination will be carried out and the child channelled to the proper institution for treatment, if needed. Follow-up will be ensured with the parents who will be duly informed.
 
Teachers as well as the administrative staff will be trained in first aid to help the dissemination of the concept of healthy living.
 
 
(ii) It is proposed to offer a balanced meal to all children with the collaboration of the PTA's and the teaching staff. Guidelines for the preparation of non-costly meals will be prepared and the Ministry will enlist the help of nutritionists for sensitization and awareness. The services of the canteens will be reviewed.
 
There are still in the country many pouches of poverty both in rural and urban regions. Many parents cannot afford to provide a proper balanced diet to their children. The school feeding project may be reviewed in its objectives and reformulated to ensure that the needy benefit from it.
 
The media will be an active partner in this endeavor.
 
 
(iii) Much emphasis needs to be laid on physical education/movement education as opposed to sports where emphasis will be put on voluntary participation in organized physical activities which will promote overall physical fitness and health, reasoning and decision-making, spirit of cooperation and the gradual elimination of psychological stress cut-throat.
 
 
Beneficiaries of the project
 
This project targets in its first and second phases students of the primary sector, mainly standards I, III and V, and will be extended to all classes. It will then reach students of the secondary sector during the third phase. The project will eventually be integrated in the system.
 
 
Expected output
 
1. Students will become aware of the importance of their person, their environment; new values will have been inculcated, with emphasis on the food they eat, the way they behave and the positive attitude which they need to develop.
 
2. They will have been regularly screened and remedies will have been brought to mild or serious physical defects or diseases.
 
3. They will have developed the habit of having a balanced diet, habit which is expected to continue later in life.
 
4. Under the guidance of a specialist teacher they will have acquired and refined basic physical skills which are directly transferable to their day to day life and they will have learned how to relate and cooperate with others.
 
 
Phases of the project
 
Phase I
 
Phase I will be carried out on a pilot basis over a period of one year in 60 primary schools (rural and urban) so that all the schools become part of the Scheme at the end of 5 years.
 
Step 1:
Designing and printing of a health booklet to cover a minimum of 12 years.
 
Step 2:
Identification of schools and meeting with HTs/DHTs, and parents through PTA's to familiarize them with the advantages of the project.
 
Step 3:
Training of teachers, administrative staff as well as caretakers.
 
Step 4:
Measures taken to create a proper environment in the school.
 
Step 5:
Preparation of guidelines by a nutritionist for a balanced meal.
 
Step 6:
Adoption of classes by class PTA to help in the implementation of the activities.
 
Step 7:
Adoption of the appropriate formula for a balanced diet to the students.
 
Step 8:
Screening and follow-up of students.
 
 
Phase II
 
The same procedures will be applied over the remaining 4 years to reach all primary schools and to cover the totality of the school population.
 
Concurrently in the secondary schools, health promoting activities will be carried out with the collaboration of Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Health.
 
Before Phase II is undertaken, an evaluation will be carried out to bring corrective measures where needed.
 
 
Additional resources needed
 
To be able to carry out all the programmed activities, a doctor and a nurse need to be attached to the Ministry at the very beginning of the project.
 
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
MPCU
 
american university