Dr. Potter calls for ESHS lunch prog to be revisited
Speaking at a meeting held on November 18, 2011 where the results of a Global School Health Survey (GSHS) was presented, Dr. Potter addressed concerns by those present at the meeting regarding introducing a healthier lifestyle among students and the cost factor associated with it, following the survey results which showed that the Virgin Islands recorded the highest percentages in obesity and overweight among students ages 13 through 15.
“We have to mobilise and have the inputs as to the issue of cost that is a wider issue, but at the same time one of the things is that the school lunch programme at Elmore Stoutt High School and thank God is only at Elmore Stoutt High School, was targeted primarily at taking the children off the street,” Dr. Potter said.
“There is a need to revisit that programme to ensure that if it is the intention of the authorities that vendors participate then they must be able to dictate what vendors will serve our children, how often and in what quantities. So we have a lot of work to do,” he continued.
On Friday November 25, 2011 at the graduation ceremony for the Alternative Secondary Education Programme, Minister for Education and Culture Hon. Myron Walwyn was asked about his views on the lunch programme following the call by the health official to have it revisited. “I will be addressing a number of things including that programme, I don’t want to speak prematurely. I have to go and see how it’s working, assess it, take the advice of other persons and we will decide what we will do from there,” he told Virgin Islands News Online.
The Elmore Stoutt High School lunch programme was introduced under the then Minister for Education Andrew Fahie, which he had said in his message for the new school term of September 2011 that it will allow confirmation with the Education Act which refers to the Government being responsible for students during school hours.
“In addition, this course of action will allow for us to meaningfully address a number of social ills that were beginning to mushroom during the time our students left the school compound particularly during the lunch hour. We will exhaust all efforts to ensure that this school lunch programme is successful. This initiative will also assist significantly in our students having more quality instructional time,” Hon. Fahie had said.
The programme includes local vendors and a Government stall with vendors expected to follow environmental health and other government policies.
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