Project seeks to nourish school environment with healthy habits

AMMAN — With the aim of building a school environment characterised by  beauty, discipline, health and hygiene, a new initiative has been helping students of a local school change their eating habits and instilling values of team work and social responsibility.

Titled “Beati Al Ajmal”, or “My Beautiful Environment”, the Knowledge Society’s project at Princess Rahma Bint Al Hassan School brings teachers, students, parents and the civil society together to partner in the process of changing both the educational environment and students’ habits. 

Basma Maamar, one of the coordinators of the project, said the initiative was launched in 2008 by Queen Rania Award for Educational Excellence (QRAEE) winners in cooperation with QRAEE Association.

Through the project, the school sets goals and action plans, following the guidelines designed by the founders, Maamar noted.

The guide book offers guidance to new society members to execute the project through a series of procedures by different committees, co-founder of the project Ruba Salameh said. 

Maamar noted that the school chooses to work on one or two criteria each year in the fields of beauty, discipline, health and hygiene through specialised committees led by an awardee teacher of the QRAEE. 

Ahlam Hamdoun, a teacher and member of the Knowledge Society, told The Jordan Times that they have succeeded in enhancing hygiene at the school by fostering pupils’ loyalty towards their environment. 

Moreover, teacher Abeer Tahboub said that the school has removed junk food from the canteen including soft drinks and chips, replacing them with healthier alternatives like milk and crispy snacks. 

The students stressed that, although the canteen’s food was “more delicious”, they enjoy the school’s veggie days during which they bring fruits and vegetables and share them with their friends to learn more about healthy food.

The civil society has helped in revamping the school’s playground and supplied it with recycled tables and chairs, Hamdoun noted.

Principal Khuloud Zubi said that the impact of Beati Al Ajmal on students is “clear compared to other schools students”, adding that they have a higher sense of responsibility, citing the student’s punctuality, regular attendance and initiatives to clean the school’s surroundings and the Sports City area.

“The project is a team work and teaches the students essential life-long values, especially discipline,” Salameh noted. 

Evaluation 

QRAEE Association has provided The Jordan Times with the results of an evaluation that reviewed the eight-year project’s effectiveness on the educational process.

The study found that the longer the school ran the project, the more students shared ideas with their teachers and longed to participate in upcoming activities, “which proves its role in encouraging voluntary work, as well as building trust between pupils and teachers”. 

The beauty committee had the biggest impact on schools enrolled in “Beati Al Ajmal”, with 87 per cent of the students saying that their schools now have greener areas while 72 per cent of students from other schools said their schools do not have green areas.

Last month, Minister of Education Omar Razzaz announced that the ministry will be piloting the project in few schools to measure its feasibility for adaptation across the Kingdom.