Seri Mulia Sarjana School and Chung Ching Middle School and emerged as the first place winners in the primary and secondary school categories of the ‘Health Promotion School Initiative Programme (HPSI): Growing, Learning, Optimising Towards Better Well-being in School (GLOW)’.
An award ceremony was held at Al-‘Afiah Hall of the Ministry of Health (MoH), organised by the Health Promotion Centre (HPC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and support from Gleneagles JPMC.
Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Secondary School came in second in the secondary school category.
Meanwhile, Chung Hwa Middle School, Kuala Belait took second place in the primary school category and Tunas Jaya PGGMB School Madang was placed third. Stella’s School Brunei took home the consolation prize. Guests of honour Permanent Secretary at the MoH Haji Maswadi bin Haji Mohsin and Acting Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the MoE Aliuddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman presented the awards.
The programme, implemented in Brunei-Muara and Belait districts with the participation of six selected private schools, was held from March to October.
HPC medical officer Dr Norzawani binti Ishak, as the programme manager, said, “The concept of a ‘health promoting school’ was introduced over 25 years ago but only gained momentum recently with the launch of the global initiative, ‘Making Every School a Health Promoting School’ by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2021.”
She added, “According to the WHO, health promoting schools are schools that strengthen their capacity as safe and healthy settings for living, learning and working.
“Health Promoting Schools use a whole-of-school approach to promote health and educational achievements by utilising the schools’ potential to create a conducive learning environment.
“The approach has shown to have positive effects on health, including increasing physical activity, improving nutrition and reducing school violence and substance abuse.”
The event continued with the presentation of tokens of appreciation to Jerudong International School Director of Enrichment and Operations Justin Harris and Taib bin Haji Alikhan from the MoE’s Curriculum Development Department in recognition of their contribution to the programme.
Seri Mulia Sarjana School’s primary and pre-school principal Putri Maharani also shared the experiences and successes of the programme at the school.
The guests of honour also toured an exhibition showcasing the activities implemented as part of the programme. – James Kon
