Managing Director of Vital Health and Dietitian Jeshneila Carti (left) and Acting Head of the Division Public Education Daison Marks.
PHILIPSBURG--The Division Public Education (DPE) has partnered with “Vital Health” for an enhanced breakfast programme.
As part of the division’s continuous improvement, it has decided to focus on the right of every child having access to healthy food and adequate nutrition so that they can properly receive their education.
This was shared in a press release from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) on Tuesday.
“The public schools have had, for a number of years, a school feeding programme where eligible kids receive a breakfast in the morning before class and a snack during the first recess,” the release stated.
Minister of Education Rudolphe Samuel in his capacity as Public Education school board asked that the programme be re-envisioned to ensure that the nutritional needs of the students at the various grade levels are catered for and that the programme add healthy snacks like fruits and yogurt.
In response to the minister’s request, DPE then pursued expert assistance. Two weeks ago, the Acting Head of DPE consulted with the Managing Director of Vital Health, dietitian Jeshneila Carti.
According to the release, the dietitian will be working on a meal plan for public schools that will guide the school’s management by providing a variety of options that the schools can choose from while working out their individual breakfast programmes.
This new strategy is also expected to change the shopping approach of the schools seeing that now considerations will first be given to be nutritional value and dietary requirements of the different age ranges of students.
The dietitian also proposed to visit the schools in the future to present the topic of nutrition to students using a fun and interactive learning approach that involves, games, colouring sheets and quizzes.
