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Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Training, Joy Adamson.

New nutrition policy for schools

Several regional agencies and stakeholders have collaborated with the Ministry of Education to create a school nutrition policy that will benefit the health of Barbadian children.

Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Joy Adamson, indicated this during her remarks via a pre-recorded video recently.

She noted that the new policy will be implemented in the upcoming academic year 2021-2022. During the next school year, the Ministry will be focusing on three main areas –  officials will be reviewing the menus of the School Meals Department; there will be the emphasis on health and activity in schools; and the Ministry will inform parents on how to prepare healthy meals and encourage their children or wards to consume healthy foods.

She acknowledged that students are eating lunches that are high in fat, sugar, and salt. Adamson noted that this practice is worrisome, but the Ministry of Education’s focus is to ensure that meals are wholesome and appealing to students

Meals must be more appealing

The National Nutrition Centre has given technical assistance to the School Meals Department by reviewing the menus to make them more appealing to the students.

“Vegetables and legumes will be incorporated into the protein or starch to ensure that the students are receiving the vitamins, minerals, and fibre that are often missing from their meals,” said Adamson.

She added there will be the inclusion of fruit and vegetable salads as the Ministry believes that students must acquire the taste for consuming these foods in raw form. The National Nutrition Centre will also provide support by guiding the correct portion sizes by the age of the child. Adamson said the goal is to help schools become less obesogenic.

“We are seeking to reduce the sugar-sweetened beverages sold at schools. It must be noted that a bottle of sugar-sweetened beverage can have as many as 16 teaspoons in one bottle. The amount of sugar that a child should consume in a day is no less than six teaspoons,” said Adamson.

She revealed that she was recently informed that many children do not drink hot beverages in the mornings, but instead consume sugar-sweetened drinks. And this means that children are drinking three to four sugar-sweetened beverages in a day – which is about 48 teaspoons daily. This excludes the other sugar-laden foods that they are consuming.

To manage this issue, training of canteen concessionaires is ongoing and there is a planned session at the start of the school year. New and healthier meals will be introduced at the canteens and beverages with less sugar or water will be encouraged in the school.

The Ministry will also encourage more movement during breaks and incorporate non-competitive physical activities like dance, weightlifting, and Zumba. There will be efforts to also engage the parents (initially virtually) about the various initiatives of the Ministry of the Education.

“The Ministry of Education is the driving force of change among the youth. We are aware that health and education are intertwined. Schools cannot obtain their primary mission of developing students academically socially, and physically if students are unhealthy,” said Adamson.

The education official emphasised the fact that a third of the youth in Barbados is overweight, and Type I diabetes and elevated blood pressure are increasing among young people. Adamson added that the pandemic has contributed to children binge eating and living a more sedentary lifestyle because of online and virtual schooling.

“Obesity early in life predisposes people to contracting non-communicable diseases and it reduces the quality of life,” she stressed.

In her presentation, the Chief Education Officer noted that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Barbados spent over 64 million dollars treating diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Adamson was a guest speaker at the virtual event, Childhood Obesity Prevention Online Media Training: Building Back Better – Implementing School Food Nutrition Policy in Barbados Post-Covid, hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados.

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