PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten–The Division Public Education as part of its continuous improvement, 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.
The public schools have had for a number of years a school feeding program where eligible kids receive a breakfast in the morning before class and a snack during the first recess.
The Minister of Education in his capacity as Public Education school board asked that the program be re-envisioned to ensure that the nutritional needs of the students at the various grade levels are catered for and that the program add health snacks like fruits and yogurt.
In response to the Minister’s request, DPE then pursued expert assistance. Two (2) weeks ago, the Acting Head of DPE consulted with the Managing Director of Vital Health, dietitian Jeshneila Carti.
The dietitian will be working on a meal plan for the 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 programs. 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, coloring sheets and quizzes.