The Health Education Unit of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with the regional education office in Basse in the Upper River Region, with funding from the UNICEF held a two-day workshop for thirty teachers drawn from the child friendly schools within the region.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Yoro Bah, the Deputy Programme Manager for Health Education Unit said the main objective of the training is to teach teachers on key household behaviours. As he put it, teachers are agents of change that can make a great difference in society.
Mr. Biran Saine, a representative of the Regional Education Office said teachers have a very important role to play towards practising good healthy behaviours in their schools, especially the child friendly schools.
He told them that a lot is expected from them to achieve the desired result of the training. He urged them to disseminate the information to the grassroots level.
Sheikh Omar Dibba, one of the resources perso's at the training said school age is a critical time in the development of human being, noting that school setting provides a strategic point of entry for improving children'shealth, self-esteemed life skills and behaviours.
He challenged teachers to make sure that the food vendors at their various schools are screened and certified by public health officers before allowing them to sell food to children.
Among the topics discussed during the training included exclusive breast-feeding, diarrhoae, iodize salt and malaria situation in the country. At the end of the meeting participants prepared their individual school action plans on how to improve good health practices in schools.
