Pedometers handed out to principals

The project will receive special funds and receive guidance from nutritionists and physical education counselors.

By JUDY SIEGEL
Students in a classroom [Illustrative] (photo credit: REUTERS)
Students in a classroom [Illustrative]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Pedometers will be distributed to principals of Jerusalem schools as a way of teaching educators how to adopt healthful lifestyles. The Jerusalem Municipality said the use of the step-counting devices by school principals will filter down to better awareness of health promotion among teachers, pupils and even their families.
Mayor Nir Barkat said that the pedometers will be handed out to more than 250 school principals in the capital at a conference to be held on the first day of school, Thursday, September 1. Participants will hear about a “new health project” to be implemented after the High Holidays in 220 schools, kindergartens and after-school facilities.
The project will receive special funds and receive guidance from nutritionists and physical education counselors.
Not only the state secular and state religious schools will be involved but also the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) and Arab school systems will be included in the distribution of pedometers.
Barkat said that Jerusalem children constitute 30 percent of the population, “but they are one hundred percent of our future as a society. The education they receive today will determine tomorrow. In the coming year, we will give special expression in Jerusalem in general and the school system in particular to health. We will teach proper nutrition and physical activity and create an educational system that teaches children and youth to have awareness of health,” he said. “Jerusalem will be the first city in the country whose entire educational system will be health oriented.”
Moshe Tur-Paz, head of the Jerusalem Education Authority, said that as part of cooperation between the ministry and the municipality, a project will begin to “change the direction” of educational institutions to promote good health.
Jerusalem will be the first city in which most of its schools will have healthy food, lessons on proper nutrition and exercise,” he said.