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WHO
Collaborative Programme
School
health
World Health Day 2004 - Art Competition
Winners -from Lebanon - 2004
Along
with the decision of the Lebanese Government to revise the National Lebanese
Curricula and to integrate health and environmental concepts into the
various teaching disciplines , and upon the demand of the National Center
for Educational Research and Development (NCERD), WHO office in Lebanon
developed a project proposal for a comprehensive school health education
project, and seized this opportunity to mobilize other UN agencies to join
efforts, activities, and funds for the project. At that time, UNICEF, UNESCO
and UNDP responded favorably, UNFPA joined the project later on. An
agreementwas reached as to assign the leadership and coordination mechanism
to the WHO. The School Health and Environment Education project was
launched mid- 1997. Its two major goals were to introduce into the various
teaching disciplines and at all educational levels health and environmental
concepts/messages - as per the New Education Infrastructure in Lebanon
approved by the Council of Ministers on the 25th October in 1995 - and to
launch extra-curricular activities through school clubs – as per the
National Plan for the Development of Education . The first goal aimed
at developing an integrated health/environment curricula that will include a
planned and sequential course of instruction from the primary till the
secondary levels to address the physical, mental, emotional and social
dimensions of health. The second goal aimed at establishing
health/environment/population school clubs that will be used as an informal
educational opportunity and will foster the interaction between schools, the
community, parents and even local services.
Project
Accomplishments
The
activities of the project can be grouped under three major headings being
the formal education, the informal one and research. The following is a list
and a brief descriptions of the activities covered by the project until now
.
a. Research
The
project was initiated by two studies: a qualitative and a quantitative one .
They aimed at gaining insights in understanding young people’s health
behaviors and lifestyle in general, at increasing understanding of how young
people perceive health, and at bringing better understanding on what really
matters in terms of topics to be chosen for school health/environment and at
what age they should be taught.
b. Formal Education
The activities centered around the integration of the health/environment
concepts and messages within the scholastic books
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Development
of two curriculums
A health and an environmental education curriculums were developed by
the technical committee, and were issued by two ministerial decrees .
These curriculums were used by book writers for the diffusion of health
and environment messages into students’ books.
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Development
of a teacher’s guide The guide promote Health Promoting Schools
concept and present a brief description of the various methodologies by
which health and environment education could be taught, stressing on the
integrated one and giving example
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Mobilization
of publishers in the private sector The meeting was organized and took
place at the UNESCO office under the leadership of the NCERD
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Training
of Trainers A specific training package was developed to train the
trainers of the teachers, and was used during the national training
sessions organized by the NCERD.
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Assessing
the Integration of the Health and Environment Concepts Within the
Scholastic Books. This assessment covered all the different books
of the basic education level, and included recommendations for improving
the second version of the books in term of activities, messages content,
and the drawing used.
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Internal
Regulations for School Clubs As part of the New Education Reform Plan,
the NCERD developed the Internal Regulations for School Clubs. These
regulations provide directions and policies for the establishment of
clubs of all kinds at school level. It provided the legal aspect for the
functionality of the clubs. The project was able to contribute to the
final formulation of these regulations through the launching of a pilot
project on health and environment clubs. The regulations were later on
issued in a ministerial circular by the Minister of Education and Higher
Education
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Health/Environment
Education Course for the Teachers Training Center. The project also
contributed in the development of this course.
c.
Informal Education
The activities of this component of the project were mainly addressed to
cover the launching of health /environment/population clubs in schools and
building the capacities of the club animators and school health supervisors
of the Health Education Department at the Ministry.
- Mobilization of School Health Supervisors The school health
supervisors at the Health Education Unit in the Ministry are the one in
charge of supervising the various components of the school health
program in the different Qadas and Mohafazats. In this respect it was
essential to introduce them on the new approach followed by the Ministry
in respect of health education. A special encounter was organized for
this purpose on November 1999.
- Mobilization of school principles
The sensitization of school principals on the project was necessary to
gain their support, and assistance for the work of the club animators. A
one day mobilization meeting was organized on February 27th 2001
- Launching of school clubs
Until now 57 school clubs were launched from all over the country
through two workshop that took place between the 30th January till the
3rd of February 2002, and the 30th January and 2nd February 2003
consecutively. The clubs were provided with stationeries, chairs and
tables, and the club animators were trained on animation techniques by a
specialized agency, the YMCA.
- Workshop for school health supervisors There was need to build the
capacity of the school health supervisors in light of the development of
the project. These supervisors were gathered to train them on follow-up
mechanisms to monitor the work of the animators. A specific set of
indicators was developed for that purpose for which they were held
responsible for. The workshop took place on the 1st and 2nd April 2002.
- Evaluation of the club animators’ work A workshop was implemented to
assess the work of the club animators between the 19th and 21st December
2002. The workshop was implemented after one of implementation whereby
discussions centered around the achievements of the clubs, problems
faced and how to encounter them.
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- Development of Educational References On Health Related Issues A set
of reference material for club animators and teachers were developed:
They consist of 5 booklets on health related issues being nutrition,
tobacco, drugs, low back pain and oral health, posters and pamphlets for
students and for parents. These material were pre-tested with a sample
of the target group through the health supervisors of the M
d.
Coordination with UN Agencies
Several UN agencies revealed interest in the project, committed themselves,
and provided support during implementation of the activities. They were
mainly UNICEF, UNPD and UNESCO.
e. Coordination with National Health Programs
Advocacy was made with the managers of different WHO supported programs,
mainly the AIDS/STDs, the Non Communicable Diseases and the Tobacco Control
Programs. Discussions are underway for the identification of potential
contribution to the project.
Future
events
The
program is currently planning to go on scale to cover a higher number of
public schools, mainly through launching school clubs at secondary level.
The series of reference materials addressed to club animators is to be
expanded to cover additional requested health issues. An evaluation step is
to be undertaken after to assess the impact of the project on students,
parents and schools. On the other hands, the project would be ready to
assist the NCERD in the evaluation process
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