Nestle trains 500 teachers on nutritional values

Food and Beverage giant, Nestle Nigeria Food Plc, as part of its corporate social responsibility, has trained about 500 teachers from 25 primary schools in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.The training, tagged ``healthy kids programme,`` according to the company's Executive Director, Centre for Health, Education, Population and Nutrition (CHEPON), Professor Tola Atinmo, was aimed at training teachers drawn from the 20 local government areas of the state on how they could help their pupils live and maintain a healthy life.The don described the introduction as timely, saying that there was minimal data from the national nutrition survey in the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS 2008) on the nutritional and general health of primary school children.``Parents and teachers are very crucial facilitators of a child's nutritional status; it is very disheartening to note that many parents do not bother much about what these pupils consume.``Well-nourished children are better equipped to cope physically, intellectually and psychologically with life.``Focusing on the health of primary school pupils in this program is a departure from the usual practice whereby secondary school children have been the target for health related interventions,`` he said.The State Chairman, Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Mufutau Ajibola, commended the company for the training programme.He urged the teachers to make good use of the training and the instructional manuals that would be given to them.The Manager, Consumer Maximisation, Mrs Iquo Ukoh, said the aim of the training was to raise awareness among school children on the benefit of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.She said that the aim would be achieved by training teachers who would in turn train pupils on nutritional education and promotion of physical activities.``The aim of the company was not just to deliver value to its shareholders but also to deliver value to the community where it operates.'Some of the particiapnts who spoke with Community News commended the company for the gesture, while promising to make good use of the knowledge, he advised other companies operating in Ogun to emulate Nestle.
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