Nutrition Friendly School Initiative Pilot Testing - Indian Experience

1. Nutrition Friendly School Initiative Pilot Testing -Indian Experience Presented by Swati Parmar Programmme Manager HRIDAY-SHAN New Delhi, India

2. HRIDAY- SHAN Team Involved in Pilot Testing Dr. K Srinath Reddy, Hony. Executive Director, Eminent Cardiologist & Epidemiologist Ms. Monika Arora, Director, Social Scientist Ms. Swati Parmar, Programme Manager, Social Work Professional Ms. Shalini Bassi, Project Officer, Nutritionist

3. NFSI – Pilot Testing • Sample : 4 schools ( 2 government and 2 private) located in New Delhi, India • Undertaken by HRIDAY- SHAN in collaboration with Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD ) WHO, Geneva

4. Schools contacted for Pilot Testing • Contacted 7 schools involved in HRIDAY- SHAN’s programs • 4 out of 7 schools contacted, gave consent for the pilot test

5. Process Undertaken • Briefing meeting with Principals and Teacher coordinators – second week of January ‘07 • Selection of CAG members – third week January ’07 • Formation of CAG – third week January ’07 • Meeting of CAG members – fourth week January ’07 • Queries answered by HRIDAY- SHAN members – fourth week ’07 • Collection of SAT and Feedback questionnaires from participating schools – second week February ’07 • Interaction with teacher coordinators during the visit conducted for collecting SAT and feedback questionnaires – second week February ‘07

6. Feedback from field: Principals/ Teachers

7. Feedback from field: Principals/ Teachers Contd...

8. Compiled Feedback of Pilot Testing in Delhi, India • No canteen facility available in government school (Sarvodaya Kanya Vidhalaya, West Patel Nagar) • Private schools have canteens which is contracted to an outside vendor. Menu is decided by the vendors with no role of school authorities • Only one private school (Arvind Gupta DAV School, Model Town) had a role to play in deciding the menu for the canteen • All the schools contacted for piloting faced difficulty in including members from management staff in CAG as their visit to school is occasional • None of the schools could include representative from local health authorities

9. Need for NFSI Programme In India • No written nutritional policy in schools • Most of the schools do not have nutritional friendly school promotion program • Absence of any formal structure to decide health promoting policy in school • No sustainable health educational program in the school curriculum- HRIDAY-SHAN is the only program which aims to influence school, home and community environment • Lack of formal initiative for promoting physical activity –existing irregular physical education classes Need for Health promotion programmes like HRIDAY- SHAN and a formal structured initiative such as NFSI

10. Suggested Modifications • Formation of Core Action Group (CAG): • CAG should comprise of representatives from school( Principal ,teacher coordinator & student), home (parents), community (member of neighbourhood Resident Welfare Association/ local body) as all the required members for CAG presently mentioned in NFSI do not have regular periodic meetings in most schools at one platform • Schools should be designated as a Nutritional Friendly School on the basis of developing written policies that guide health promotional activities at school, home and community level • Such initiatives in Government schools require partnership with Directorate of Education, Delhi Government • Section on written nutrition policy given in SAT require adaptation to be more country specific

11. About HRIDAY - SHAN

12. HRIDAY*HEALTH RELATED INFORMATION DISSEMINATION AMONGST YOUTH OBJECTIVES • To enhance the knowledge related to the content areas of HRIDAY educational program • To positively influence attitudes towards health promoting behaviors • To alter practices of students and of their parents towards healthy practices AREAS OF FOCUS Diet & Nutrition Physical Activity Tobacco Avoidance Environment * HRIDAY means ‘Heart’ in most Indian Languages

13. SHAN *(Student Health Action Network) is an offspring of HRIDAY • SHAN was formed as a result of identification of environmental barriers that restricted adoption of learnt knowledge into behaviour. • Intent of establishing SHAN was to address these barriers through health promoting policies, through enabling regulatory and legislative measures that are identified by students. • SHAN is a network of school and college students (14-20 years) of Delhi, whose members meet periodically to discuss health policy issues and articulate their demands for societal measures conducive to sustainable health. It represents the youth advocacy component of HRIDAY.

14. Classes VI-VIII Classes IX-XII AT SCHOOL LEVEL LEARNING TO ACT LEARNING THE FACT AT COLLEGE LEVEL (3 Years) HRIDAY SHAN “Debate the Present to Define the Future” “Let’s Talk Health”

15. The HRIDAY Concept Education Awareness + Environment Skills/Norms + Activism Ownership ---------------- = CHANGE ----------------

16. School- Community Connections: Interactions at the National Level

17. At school level Orientation workshop for Teachers Training workshop for Peer leaders Teachers Training Manual Peer leader training Manual Students Handbook (worksheets) Student charter on health of our land Intra and inter school/ college competitions Students Parliament on Health Lectures & interactive sessions on health themes by resource persons Other IEC Material for school: posters, fact sheets, booklets, films, interactive games At home level Home Team Material Post cards Strategies followed by HRIDAY-SHAN At community level • Peer lead health activism • Health Art by Youth • Community mobilisation • by Youth

18. HRIDAY-SHAN’S Learning Resource Material

19. IEC materials on Diet & Nutrition

20. HEALTH PROMOTING SCHOOL PROGRAMME Intent: Children learn best in a safe, healthy & cognitively motivating environment

21. OBJECTIVES • Enhance health awareness among school/college students • Enable students to take care for themselves and others. • Train them to pursue peer education for health behaviour conformist* • Facilitate students to make responsible and productive decisions • Improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community through school/college * Only at school level

22. Balanced Diet Sensitization of students and parents on healthy diet through classroom activities and Home Team Material. Poster display on diet and nutrition in classroom and in school/college. Promotion of healthy snacks in the school canteen*. Encouraging students to bring cost effective healthy food in their tiffins. Encouraging students to put healthy food stalls during school fetes and college festivals. Physical activity Sensitization of students and parents about importance of being physically fit through classroom activities and Home Team Material*. Poster display highlighting importance of being physically fit. Encouraging students to practice some form of physical activity regularly during games period*. Developing innovative programmes for making physical activity sessions enjoyable to students*. Encourage students to adopt measures for including different forms of physical activity in their daily living habits. Activities for Health promotion In schools

23. THANK YOU