Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughn (left), chairperson of the Early Childhood Commission, looks on as nutritionist Patricia Thompson, the creator of food bingo, plays with students from Central Branch Infant School, Kingston. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

The Early Childhood Commission (ECC) will this year distribute hundreds of teaching tools to basic schools starved of health and nutrition education resources.

Central Branch Infant School on Slipe Pen Road, Kingston, became the first recipient of the nutritional aids, including food, bingo games and functional food charts.

The equipment was donated by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund.

W. Billy Heaven, chief executive of the CHASE Fund, said Tuesday that the organisation was providing more than 1,500 games and charts to equip approximately 3225 basic schools islandwide.

Retooling schools

Nutritionist Patricia Thompson developed the teaching materials in 1993 in a response to the national curriculum, which included health and nutrition components.

Thompson said that the teachers welcomed the tools, which they found particularly useful for spelling and word recognition.

"Teachers said that they found it hard to integrate food and nutrition and so the functional food charts illustrate how food nutrition was compatible for basic schools," she said.

Different food types are colour-coded on the functional food charts that adorned the walls of the canteen.

Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan, chairperson of the ECC, emphasised the importance of nutrition in the early years of child development and said the commission was committed to retooling schools to fulfil that mandate.

"We will provide children with information that is there to help them take responsibility for their health," she said.

Samms-Vaughan stressed that both parents and children would benefit from a holistic approach to education as aforementioned by Heaven.

Competitiveness

Acknowledging a rise in child obesity, Samms-Vaughan said the ECC had devised a nutrition strategy to craft operation manuals for menus in schools.

Endorsed by principal Carol Watson, students participated in the games which allow six people to play.

Five-year-old Vindiesel Isaacs told The Gleaner he found the games fun and colourful as he used exercised skills in problem solving and competitiveness among his counterparts.

The old school structure, which was destroyed by fire in 2004, was reconstructed last February. Since then, Central Branch Infant School has become a model for early-childhood institutions.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Education.

tendai.franklyn-brown@gleanerjm.com