Malitbog National High School in Calinog, Iloilo was recognized as one of the Top 10 schools in the World’s Best School Prize for Supporting Healthy Lives category due to their Healthy and Happy School project.
The program aims to be inspiring and empowering the school for students to help them in achieving their dreams. Healthy and Happy School is supported by school sub-programs to ensure that the needs of each student are met. These programs include home and school gardening, home-based wellness, clean water and sanitation, mental health programs, and learning space enhancement.
When the pandemic started, about 80% of parents were concerned about guiding their children for the implementation of blended learning, but after the school guided them, 85% of parents expressed that they were comfortable teaching. to their children at home.
“We have high regard for education and people have high respect for teachers that is why they give their all-out support to the school and to the education of their children in general,” shared Dr. Jesus Insilada, Principal of MNHS.
The winners of T4 Education’s World’s Best Schools are expected to be announced in October this year. If MNHS wins, they plan to share and expand their program to other schools in their municipality through a summit for a session of sharing best practices in building a positive place for learning. As an extension of the program, they will provide a Happy and Healthy Park builder with plants, vegetables, and trees to serve as a place for people who are part of the school to relax and talk.
“With these proposals, it is with high hopes that communities and stakeholders will come together to realize these dreams and to make our school a model school in terms of its readiness, positive vibes, and harmonious relationships that exist among its stakeholders,” he added. Dr. Insilada.
World’s Best School Prize for Supporting Healthy Lives
From arts to sports. From nutrition to social-emotional learning. From personal development to caring relationships. Recognising the schools which are providing the opportunity for their students and community to live health by these and more ways in an integrated and sustainable way.
Top 10 shortlisted schools (Supporting Healthy Lives):
- Curie Metropolitan High School – Chicago, United States of America
- Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong – Shanghai, China
- Gort Community School – Gort, Ireland
- Larrakeyah Primary School – Darwin, Australia
- London Academy of Excellence, Stratford – London, England, United Kingdom
- Malitbog National High School – Calinog, Philippines
- Mathilde Anneke Comprehensive School – Münster, Germany
- Oak Knoll Elementary School – Menlo Park, United States of America
- The Totteridge Academy – London, England, United Kingdom
- Trilema Zamora – Zamora, Spain
A holistic health programme for underprivileged students
Malitbog National High School, a secondary school in Calinog, Iloilo, The Philippines implemented its Happy and Healthy School Programme (HHS) during the pandemic to promote physical, mental, and social health among its 1,000 students – 90% of whom fall below the poverty line and 60% of whom were malnourished when they started school.
The Happy and Healthy School Programme (HHS), which is based upon the idea that every problem has a solution and thus, even in the wake of a global pandemic, the community can address their problems as one body. Projects and activities include home gardening, home-based wellness, advocating a healthy diet, clean water and sanitation, and mental health advocacy among others. With every home becoming a classroom during the pandemic, the household and wider community have been as important to this programme as the school.
The school also worked to solve the complications around home learning: when 80% of parents expressed doubt as to how they would be able to help their children with their studies, the school provided them with detailed guidance. After intensive efforts, over 85% of parents felt comfortable acting as learning facilitators for their children. The school managed to raise 2 million pesos to fund disinfectant as well as printers and paper for home learning. It also managed to raise the vaccination rate of staff from less than 1%, due to initial vaccine hesitancy, to 100% as result of its community-focused campaign.
If Malitbog National High School were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Supporting Healthy Lives, it would use the funds to share its expertise with other secondary schools in the region. It would also use the money to create a Happy and Healthy Park where everyone can use the open space to discuss the biggest issues impacting the local community.
