By Imee Alonzo
ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Nov. 15 - -To
many parents’ surprise, schoolchildren in New Village Elementary School
in Zamboanga del Sur have transformed to become “hygiene educators” at
home.
This
was disclosed by PTCA President Raul Ponce who gave his testimony about
the impact of Essential Health Care Program (EHCP) during the Global Hand washing Day held recently at the Village school.
Ponce
said when the EHCP was fully implemented in their school over a year
ago, and they noticed schoolchildren have been reminding their parents
and siblings at home to brush their teeth and wash their hands daily
after meal and before sleeping.
“This
is the impact of EHCP and our children have been consistently reminding
us parents to brush our teeth and wash our hands every night to prevent
diseases,” Ponce said.
Addressing
hundreds of guests and participants in the first ever global
handwashing day event in Zamboanga del Sur, Ponce also said that the
PTCA noticed that absenteeism was significantly reduced in the school.
EHCP promotes three interventions to prevent child diseases. These daily tooth brushing, daily hand washing with soap and twice a year deworming.
This
testimony was also shared by school head Eleadora Macala that aside
from less absenteeism, teachers no longer remind their pupils to brush
their teeth because children are the ones announcing in class when “it’s tooth brushing time!”
“We also noticed that children are more active and participative in class since we started EHCP in our school,” Macala said.
New
Village Elementary School is one of the EHCP model schools in Zamboanga
del Sur where UNICEF provided the kick start EHCP materials that
includes toothbrush, bottled toothpaste and soap. The Fit for School, a
partner organization of DepED provided the capacity building of the
school nurse and teachers on how the program will be implemented and
sustained. (JPA/IA, DepEd/PIA9)