The Royal Health Awareness Society has recently conducted field visits to a number of Gold-Level Healthy Schools with the aim of assessing the impact of the program on the students as well as the school environment.
This was done though “Structured Observations” for a number of pre-selected behaviors and standards in schools, and to increase the validity of conclusions, RHAS included a control group in the school sample to enable comparison, Observations showed A significant change among Healthy Schools particularly in the area of healthy nutrition; the Healthy Schools committed to not selling unhealthy foods such as carbonated drinks artificial juices and chips whereas control schools were still providing these snacks at their canteens.
Regarding school cleanliness, observations showed that the Healthy Schools sustained cleaner and more hygienic facilities including classrooms and bathrooms compared to control schools. The most noticeable aspect of hygiene was providing toilet paper and soap in schools’ toilets. On the behavioral level, the number of students who washed their hands after using the bathroom was higher in the Healthy Schools’ sample compared to the control schools. This impact shows that the schools and students are endorsing healthier practices that prevent infections and improve health, which is a core element of the program’s health kit that is being used by students from different age groups.
It is with no doubt that the schools need more efforts and support to enhance health behaviors amongst students. Despite the fact that a significant number of students in Healthy Schools are washing their hands progressively more, there is still a need to raise awareness about personal hygiene habits to make them an essential part of students’ daily lives.
Yara Musleh, Project Manager, said that the Healthy Schools National Accreditation Project has been conducted since 2008 with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE). The accreditation project aims to create health promoting environments within Jordanian schools that reflect positively on student’s physical and social growing, as well as on their academic performance. The project is carried through national health standards that participating schools are trained and supervised to implement successfully.
Two hundred schools have participated in this project since its launch in 2008, 115 of which have received accreditation; Three hundred health education teachers and 200 principals participated in capacity-building and training programs, In addition, 150 volunteers and ambassadors were trained in nursing colleges to help implement healthy practices in participating schools.
Yara Musleh , Project Manager, added that the project gives the participating schools an opportunity to work on 10 chapters throughout the academic year for three years , and to be evaluated based on the achievements accomplished by implementing the health standards to develop and maintain a healthy setting for living, learning and working. The ten chapters are : management and leadership, safe school environment, healthy school environment, clean school environment, health education, community and staff participation, health services, social and psychological support, physical activity and diet.