The
Ministry of Education, in co-operation with the Kingdom of Denmark, has
launched the Food Moovers program through the leading Danish company of Arla Foods
to promote the healthy eating habits of UAE school students. The first phase of
the program will be applied to sixth graders in 150 public and private schools across
the UAE. The participating schools are subject to competitions through which
the program implementation phases will be documented for specialists from the
ministry and Arla Foods to determine how far the schools have been committed to
the standards of the program. The best three schools will be selected to
participate in a dedicated global competition.
The
program was launched at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Dubai
yesterday. The launch ceremony was attended by HE Jameela Al Muhairi, Minister
of State for Public Education; HE Franz Michael Mellbin, Ambassador of Denmark
to the UAE; Jens Martin Alsbirk, Danish Consul General to the UAE; Marwan Al
Sawaleh, Undersecretary of Ministry of Education for Academic Affairs; Dr. Amna
Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Assistant Undersecretary for Care and Activities Sector; Ann-Camilla,
Category Director for Arla Foods MENA; and Anette Holm, UAE General Manager at
Arla Foods. The program comes as part of the Ministry of Education's keenness
on providing students with such healthy eating practices that will help them
follow a healthy lifestyle and hence improve their performance in all fields during
their education process.
The
program is based on four main stages; namely, research, which enables students
to look for healthy eating styles, then developing key ideas that will help
them follow such styles and subsequently devising methods to motivate students
to adopt these ideas. In the fourth stage, a healthy eating style is maintained
to the extent of becoming a lifestyle.
The
program is aimed at enhancing the healthy eating habits of students through
adopting healthy eating styles. The project will be implemented through student
clubs in the selected schools in an innovative and interactive way based on fun
and suspense. The joint work team from the Ministry of Education and Arla Foods
will provide a training package for the teachers of schools to be selected for
participation in the program.