Can children become happy and fit with a little nudge from their school? Some institutions in Bengaluru think the answer is a clear yes, and have been taking steps to encourage students to lead healthier lifestyles.
While one school measured children’s bags and rewarded those who carried the prescribed weight, another fixed a ‘healthy tiffin’ timetable for them. Yet another evaluated teachers on their awareness on mental health.
These and some other schools were felicitated at an event organised by NGO Parikrma Humanity Foundation and health start-up AddressHealth on Wednesday. Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, State Health & Family Welfare department gave the winners a pat.
Euro School Chimney Hills, Chikkabanavara, which won an award for working to reduce the weight of school bags, does not require students to bring textbooks until class eight. “We conduct random checks on school bags and weighed every bag twice this year,” said the school’s vice-principal Vamsheepriya Amar. When the staff found students carrying unnecessary textbooks, they alerted the parents to help children come to school ‘burden free’.
Tiffin timetable
Two schools won awards for encouraging nutritious food for students — Carmel Garden Public School which implemented a snack and tiffin timetable for parents to adopt, and the South School, which assessed the food brought in snack boxes.
VVR School, Sarjapur Road, has set up a dentist’s chair on its campus. “A dental team visits four times a week,” said Jagadeesh N., chairman, VVR School.
Delhi Public School South earned marks for conducting a survey to assess mental health awareness among teachers, while the students of St. Mary’s Convent got kudos for conducting a survey of their neighbourhood to find out how many people were segregating waste. In all, 73 schools participated in the competition, said Shukla Bose, founder of Parikrma Humanity Foundation.
