Teachers selling in schools are being scolded by the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN).

While the National School Nutrition Policy is not in practice and there is no standard regulation across educational institutions, the youth-led advocacy programme says the practice of teachers selling sugary drinks and snacks to students on school compounds is concerning.

“Teachers are seen as role models and act as loco parentis during the hours when children are entrusted in their care. With this in mind, teachers must act in the best interest of the child. The best interest of the child in a school environment is to ensure that students are being nourished for growth, and also for learning,” Shannique Bowden, executive director of JYAN, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

“Studies continue to point to how empty calories and foods with high added sugar content give an immediate rush and soon thereafter, what they often call a crash. This is where the high burst of energy is soon after juxtaposed with a feeling of lethargy. Sleepy and lethargic students after lunch do not make for a productive learning environment,” she continued.

The JYAN, in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Jamaica, organised a variety of activities and events to promote healthy eating to youth.

‘Health Chats’ are being held in schools across the country to promote awareness, as well as to communicate the importance of young people playing a role in monitoring and supporting the National School Nutrition Policy. The groups joined forces for a forum on Thursday, March 23, at The University of the West Indies (UWI) regional headquarters.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health issue in Jamaica. One in three Jamaicans has hypertension, and one in eight has diabetes. In 2017, more than 30,000 children between 10 and 19 were found to be hypertensive.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global School-based Student Health Survey reported that in Jamaica, 20 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls between the ages of 13-17 were overweight, and nine per cent of boys and 9.5 per cent of girls in that same age group were obese.

Last May, Vonetta Nurse, nutrition consultant for UNICEF, told the Sunday Observer that while there is a calculated push to promote nutritious consumption among children, it shouldn’t be overlooked that unfortunately, unhealthier foods are far more affordable and accessible.

Moreover, Bowden told the Sunday Observer that the JYAN is also concerned about the idea that teachers, who exercise a significant authority over students in the classroom, are using that relationship based on authority and commercialising it by selling to students.

“The significant power imbalance may pose an undue influence on students that is very similar to the child targeted marketed in schools that are vehemently opposed to. The National School Nutrition Policy must be comprehensive enough to take these nuances into consideration, including the vendor economy that surrounds the schools,” she said.

“With a National School Nutrition Policy, we will be able to hold all child development stakeholders accountable for what they market, sell and feed to children in the school environment. We encourage the Ministry of Education to hasten the completion and implementation of the policy so that we can set standards and try to curb the impending emergence of the NCDs generation. We continue to emphasise at JYAN that all interaction with adults and authority figures with children must be done in their best interest. So, let us endeavour to feed our children in their best interest.”

Last May, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton said the policy was at the Green Paper stage, and that it was going to “influence what is served in schools” for children.

“We are going to make sure that the foods that you eat in our schools are not going to make you sick early in your life. It is going to be a balanced meal,” Tufton said, while addressing a Kiwanis Club of Eastern St Andrew’s Child Month virtual forum.

In his 2022/23 Sectoral Debate presentation in the House of Representatives, Tufton said the Government will work to guide and, in some cases, mandate school cafeterias to prepare healthier options for students.

In addition, Bowden said JYAN fully believes that it is time that the education sector and the agro industry establish linkages with schools. These linkages, she continued, are mutually beneficial.

“There is an opportunity to provide a stable market for farmers, and also particularly beneficial for our food system so we can eat more of the food that’s locally grown. For schools, it provides an opportunity to get cheaper food, and to get more community involvement in school feeding.”

The controlled marketing of unhealthy foods in schools is a focus of the policy and Bowden reiterate an important factor — parents and guardians.

“Marketing to students to us at JYAN is fundamentally unfair and unjust, as it manipulates the underdeveloped decision making capacity of children and adolescents. Marketing to children is often geared at using children as agitators to parents to buy products. It is at this point the parent must understand the role and guard and dissuade children from developing unhealthy lifestyle eating habits,” she told the Sunday Observer.

To do that, she said parents should be equipped with the knowledge in order to “appropriately guide”.

She noted that parents also have an advocacy role to demand that the foods provided for their children are nutritious and take into consideration their best interest.

“We must ensure that our school meal providers stop putting people over profits. The school is not a marketplace for insatiable capitalism, but rather a home for development. Parents have a sacred role to ensure that the schools their children attend adhere to those principles. With this in mind, we have ramped our public facing activities and advocacy to reach out to parents through media, PTA assemblies et cetera, to get the parental buy in.”

Bowden said the partnership with UNICEF and JYAN is important, underscoring that both organisations have their own unique strengths and capacities.

“That combined effort has proven to be effective on other initiatives before. JYAN does direct work with young people in building their capacity for advocacy, while UNICEF has done extensive research on youth development in Jamaica and has a vast amount of technical expertise in development research and practice.

“Other partners such as the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, Healthy Caribbean Coalition have also aided in our efforts by lending research, public education and sensitisation support. The result is an intensive campaign appealing to all demographics and stakeholders that has caught the attention of policymakers and moves have been made, the evidence of which is the drafting stage of the National School Nutrition Policy,” Bowden stated.