Shops and hawkers that sell unhealthy food should not be allowed to operate near schools where they entice children to eat junk, according to an Auditor General report on students’ nutrition.
“Despite all efforts by schools at addressing healthy nutrition-related issues within their respective environments, this work is undone by street hawkers and outlets close by,” the report said, adding the situation had to be regulated.
The Auditor General also pointed out that school heads were concerned about the lack of drinking water in school.
A number of schools had no access to drinking water so students brought their own drinks from home or went without drinking water.
Financial constraints prohibited some schools from installing dispenser points or water fountains.
Education authorities, in collaboration with schools, should review the access of free drinking water afforded to students, the Auditor General said in the report entitled Achieving a Healthier Nutrition Environment in Schools, released yesterday. The report looked into whether policies outlined in the 2007 Healthy Eating Lifestyle Plan were being implemented in schools to improve the quality of food eaten by students.
The plan was drawn up after a 2006 World Health Organisation report indicated that Maltese children suffered from obesity.
Following a survey administered to 142 heads of Malta’s primary and secondary schools, the AG found that, while several schools developed internal health-related policies, the onus for implementing them depended on the individual initiative and prioritisation of the school.
Among a series of recommendations, he pointed to the urgent need to set up a policy regulating the school nutrition environment. He highlighted the need for a coordination unit that would ensure conformity between schools.
The AG recommended that healthy eating be incorporated within the curriculum and that schools consider implementing monitoring systems to ensure that food brought to school by students was healthy.
While most children took a packed lunch to school, the majority of headmasters felt their students did not take healthy food and drinks for their lunch breaks.
The report stressed that parents’ cooperation was vital in ensuring the children ate well.
The AG found there was a lack of formal monitoring of the nutritional aspect of food and drinks sold through school tuck shops even though junk food was banned from them since January 2008.
Tuck shops should be inspected regularly and this supervision should be coordinated by a central authority within the Directorates for Education, the report said.