Nutrition Month 2019 in the Philippines

Eating healthily is fun

As the month of July has been declared National Nutrition Month, our school in the Philippines has come up with some good ideas with which to instruct the parents of their pupils in healthy eating in a fun fashion.

The National Nutrition Month is an annual education and informative campaign which should indicate the importance of having access to a secure and varied food source and of developing healthy eating and exercise habits.  In order to heighten awareness of the topic of healthy eating and how to eat properly, the Minister for Education has requested that all public and private schools take part in the celebrations of the Nutrition Month 2019 in July.

Malnourishment still represents a key issue in the region

What is imperative, is that measures are taken on behalf of the Philippine population as diseases such as anaemia, chronic under- and malnourishment have continued to spread at a high rate over the last few years in certain regions.  In order to combat these health problems, the San Roque Elementary School has declared that is is happy to participate and to instruct its pupils in the significance of healthy eating habits.

Gardening lesson for children in the Philippines
Gardening lesson for children in the Philippines

The school's very own organic plant stall

During Nutrition Month, healthy eating was not the only topic of focus, organic gardening was also central to many of the children's lessons.  Not only the pupils benefit from this instruction, their parents are also involved and are able to purchase reasonably-priced, fresh vegetables grown in the organic school vegetable patch from the plant stall every Friday. This simplifies the process of improving the nutritional standards in the home.

Cooking and Gardening Competitions pose a challenge to pupils and parents

One shouldn't underestimate the topic of nutrition and how much fun it can be.  The school set up Gardening and Cooking Compeitions with the pupils and their parents.  Fresh produce is harvested from the the organic school vegetable patch in teams and this is then transformed into tasty dishes.  The winners of the competition received exciting prizes.

Cooking competitions for pupils and parents in the Philippines
Cooking competitions for pupils and parents in the Philippines
Cooking competitions for pupils and parents in the Philippines

Learning for life

As educational thinking supports, it is fundamental that parents are also made aware of the importance of nutrition.  For this very reason, both the pupils and their parents focused on the topics of nutrition and gardening together.  For this purpose, creative posters were created and then presented to the whole school.  The knowledge acquired can also be applied at home, in people's own gardens and kitchens so that the children and their families can provide for themselves better in the future.

 

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