When term three of the 2022-2023 school year starts in April, all drinks sold in schools will have to be unsweetened, with no sugar or artificial sweeteners added. This was announced by Minister of Education Kay McConney.
The Barbados School Nutrition Policy, which was unveiled at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute (SJPI) on Wednesday, has a number of rules like this one. The policy also makes it clear that healthy meals must be served on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that all meals must include vegetables.
“Healthy snacks will be sold on campus, as suggested by the National Nutrition Centre and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB). The HSFB will give school principals, canteen concessionaires, vendors, and people who run tuck shops at schools a list of healthy snacks.
“Water Wednesday will keep going for two more days of the week. Fruit Fridays will happen on two more days than just Fridays. During class time, students will be able to drink water during the day. McConney said that people in elementary schools and clubs in middle and high schools should sell healthier options to raise money.
The minister also said that parents will be invited to meetings to encourage them to support the changes and that canteen workers will be encouraged to go to workshops to learn how to help make schools healthier places.
She also said that teachers will be encouraged to teach about healthy lifestyles in other classes, and that Health and Family Life Education will focus on healthy eating and exercise. Also, Minister McConney said that authorized people will be able to use a Heart and Stroke Foundation Monitoring App once it has been approved.
She also said that HYPE days (Healthy Youth through Physical Education) would be held in all nurseries, schools for children with special needs, primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, with students and staff taking part in a variety of activities that encourage healthy living.
“All schools will start having fitness days on Fridays. The level of physical education will be raised to Form 4. “For early childhood and infant cohorts, we will make a curriculum about healthy eating and activity, with set times for program delivery,” she said.
The Barbados School Nutrition Policy will be used as a guide to plan and create ways to make schools better places to learn.
The main goal of the policy is to create a healthy school environment that helps students learn and encourages them to eat and act in healthy ways for the rest of their lives. This will be done through an integrated approach that includes government, private sector, non-government, and non-profit organizations.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Programme Manager for the Childhood Obesity Prevention Program, Francine Charles, gave the Monitoring App and a list of alternative snacks and drinks to the Ministry of Education. The foundation was happy with the policy, which was made to protect the future of the country.
Dr. Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, the Chief Executive Officer, said that the ministry met with canteen operators and vendors last Saturday to tell them how they can help with the policy rollout.
Dr. Archer-Bradshaw said that there are no laws in place to control vending machines that sell “unhealthy” foods, but those who came to the meeting were interested in making places where healthy food is sold.
