Teachers to consider new nutrition policy

The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is willing to support any initiative to protect and preserve the health of the nation’s children, including banning the sale of sweetened beverages at schools.

Indicating that he is yet to see an official copy of the Barbados School Nutrition Policy launched at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute (SJPI) last Wednesday, Rudy Lovell said the union intends to cooperate with the Ministry of Education to implement the policy’s stipulations.

However, Lovell said the union’s executive will seek to engage members on the role they must play in the rolling out of the policy which is scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the next term in April.

“If you are saying that you have a National Nutrition Policy there should be a document speaking to the policy. So when I get the document I could take the document to my membership.

“We will try to have a discussion with the members to see if this is something that they will support. I have no doubt that they will support it, once it does not take them into the realm of having the responsibility for doing something out of their regular duties. But usually something that is of benefit to the students, teachers are all for.

“I want to give the teachers the opportunity to voice any concerns even though they may be onboard, on what they would want to see with regards to this National Nutrition Policy,” he said.

During the launch of the policy, Minister of Education Kay McConney said it will be mandatory that all beverages sold in schools contain no sugar or artificial sweeteners. McConney also announced that healthy dishes must be served on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while vegetables must be served with all meals. 

The minister indicated that only healthy snacks as recommended by the National Nutrition Centre and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB) will be sold on campus. 

The education minister also encouraged teachers to integrate the teaching of healthy lifestyles into other subjects and noted that there will be a focus on healthy eating and fitness in Health and Family Life Education.

“I think this is a step in the right direction,” Lovell said. “I honestly believe that sweetened beverages should have been banned a long time ago. There are some primary schools and some nursery schools who would insist that you don’t send these sweetened beverages to the schools for the students. It is a school of thought that these things encourage students to be overly hyper along with other things,” he said.

Suggesting that the policy could encourage children to adopt a healthy lifestyle, Lovell stressed that “a healthy body leads to a healthy mind”. 

However, the president said he anticipates that it would be difficult for schools to police the snacks and beverages students bring from home to ensure they are in accordance with the new stipulations. 

“We would want the persons who are selling on the outside to work along with the ministry on this initiative because it is for the benefit of the country. If we can reduce the amount of money the Government has to spend on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) they would have money to spend on other areas. I would love some money to be spent on school repairs now,” Lovell said. 

(AH)