The Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Health have launched ‘Junior-Edu-Nutrition’ (JEJ) programme. Specialists will teach children appropriate eating habits that if shaped in childhood, often remain in adulthood.

The programme, aimed at pupils in primary school classes I-VI, will be implemented throughout Poland by specialists from the Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences at the Warsaw Agricultural University and the National Institute of Public Health of the National Institute of Hygiene – National Research Institute in Warsaw (NIZP PZH – PIB).

The JEŻ programme was inaugurated with an educational and culinary workshop. Under the guidance of experienced nutritionists, the pupils prepared nutritious, colourful and tasty desserts. Beforehand, they discussed a well-balanced diet. Ministers Przemysław Czarnek and Adam Niedzielski and the Rector of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences Professor Michał Zasada were also involved in the preparation of the healthy desserts.

“The idea behind the Junior-Edu-Nutrition programme is to educate the whole school environment: teachers, pupils and their immediate surroundings. We will train teachers to teach children about healthy nutrition from an early age”, says Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek.

A key element of nutrition education is practical classes. That is why equipped classrooms to train teachers will be set up in the academic centres participating in the programme across Poland. The training will be conducted using educational and instructional materials prepared by the National Institute of Hygiene – PIB.

More than 15,000 teachers from almost 2,200 schools enrolled in the programme will take part in certified training. They will receive educational materials developed by experts, including lesson plans with worksheets for students.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński