Friday, November 20, 2015 — The Marshall Islands Journal

Islands miss out by not linking
health, culture and education!
GIFF JOHNSONMarshall Islands public elementary school students don’t
have a lunch program, show consistently poor academic achievement, suffer serious nutrition deÀFLHQFLHVIURPHDWLQJODUJHTXDQtities of “junk food” in urban centers, and frequently miss classes,
often because they leave campus
in search of food. Marshall Islands Standard Achievement Test
results released earlier this monthshow little improvement in ongoing low academic achievement,a long-standing problem for thepublic schools. Test results forlast school year show, for examSOH ´SURÀFLHQF\µ OHYHOV UDQJLQJIURPDKLJKRIRQO\SHUFHQWWR
a low of 19 percent in academic
subjects in the third grade.
When the US government
halted funding for school lunches
three years ago, the Marshall Islands government largely eliminated the feeding program, although some funding for school
lunches was included in the budJHW IRU WKH QHZ ÀVFDO \HDU WKDWstarted October 1 — and some loFDOYHQGRUVKDYHÀOOHGWKHJDSE\offering discount price plates andsnacks on or next to local school
campuses.
Meanwhile, Assumption andCoop schools, Marshall Islands
High School and several elementary schools in the Marshall Islands have over the past several
years engaged their students inschool gardens that provide produce for the feeding program
operated by the private schools,
while providing vegetables forthe students of the public schools.
The correlation between the lackof a school lunch program in
most public schools and academic under-achievement should beobvious. Less obvious is the lost
opportunity for student learning
about nutrition, island foods andfood culture for lack of a feeding
program linked to school gardens
and school curriculum. MarshallIslands schools are missing a
golden opportunity for integrating learning, nutrition, and cultural values into their ongoingprograms.
A visit last month to the Sanya
Elementary School in the Suginami section of Tokyo offeredserious food for thought on thematter. Sanya is showcasing a
many-layered program of nutrition education and action thatengages students in grades one
through six in planting, managing and harvesting vegetables inthe school garden, teaches themto cook using this produce, and0DUVKDOO,VODQGVVWXGHQWVDUHPLVVLQJRSSRUWXQLWLHVDYDLODEOHWRWKHLUFRXQWHUSDUWVLQ
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value of the foods they are eating.
The school also engages many
parents in the nutrition and cooking program.
Perhaps most important, theeating habits of the students arebeing shifted to a more traditional
Japanese diet, known as “washoku” — which is to say, healthierfare. They are enthusiastic about
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miso soup, and mixed vegetables
ZLWK 6DQ\D ÀIWK JUDGHUV GHPRQstrated Thursday.
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food to their fellow students, one
student rose to explain today’s
meal and its nutritional value.
Next, another student stood tolead everyone in expressing appreciation for the meal and everyone involved in its preparation,using the Japanese expression,“itadakimasu.” As soon as thethanks were delivered, everyone
dived into the meal. At its conclusion, another student led thegroup in a closing thank you, “gochisou sama.” Barely a grain ofrice remained on the plates of the25 or so students in the classroom
as the lunch concluded.
“The gardening helps withemotional stability and well-being of the students,” said Principal Kazuyoshi Yamagishi. “Mostimportant for the students isthrough gardening, they learn toappreciate life.”
The school combines a variety of physical activity, gardening, learning about nutrition,and teaching dental hygiene.
The school lunch program costis shared by parents, who pay amonthly fee for their children’s
meals, and the government,
which pays the salaries of theschool’s kitchen staff.

“A healthy body contributes tosound academic development,”
said Yamagishi.
While the school is not at thetop of Tokyo elementary schools
academically, “our school isabove the city’s academic average,” said Yamagishi. At leastas important, from Yamagishi’s
standpoint, is that as a result ofparticipating in gardening, foodpreparation, and learning Japanese food customs, “fewer children have a frustrated attitude.
Surveys show the children enjoy
farming and the participation
contributes to students’ life in apositive way.”
The school is now mid-way
through a one-year pilot project
supported by the Ministry of Education to demonstrate the potential for this unique food education
learning program.
The integrated program doesn’tstop at the school gates, or limit
itself to students learning to cook.
(YHU\ \HDU LQ WKH VSULQJ ÀIWKgraders travel for an overnight
visit to a village near Mount Fuji,
where they plant rice in a sizeable plot. Later in the year, they
return for the harvest that generDWHVNLORJUDPV SRXQGV of rice that is used for meals during a special “harvest week” theschool celebrates late in the year,
bringing parents and community
volunteers together for meals andactivities with the students.
Sixth graders are taught thecustom of washoku including thearrangement of bowls, plates andchopsticks in the traditional styleof their elders. As the students
gain experience in the gardens
and kitchen, they begin to differentiate between imported andlocal foods, said Yamagishi. “Thestudents pay attention to domestically grown foods and preferthem,” he said. “I hope (throughthis program) the students willlearn to love their country’s own
food.”The permutations of this foodeducation program at Sanya Elementary are limited only by theimagination of the teachers andstudents. It also offers a teaching
program relevant to the Marshall,VODQGVDQGRWKHU3DFLÀFLVODQGV
particularly in the urban centerswhere child nutrition has deteriorated as people shift from a dietof locally grown and caught foodto store-bought processed foods.
An epidemic of diabetes andother non-communicable diseases is now sweeping throughthe islands, causing a high levelof sickness impacting the workIRUFHDQGSODFLQJDKXJHÀQDQFLDO
burden on already cash-strapped
hospitals. This school-based foodeducation program is an innovative way of getting students andparents learning about nutritionand engaged in improving theirhealth.
Sanya Elementary offers amodel that could be exported
as part of Japan’s technical assistance to its island allies orthrough a sister school approach.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency already supplies
dozens of math and science volunteer teachers to schools around
WKH3DFLÀFLQDGGLWLRQWRLWVH[port of volunteers in medicine
and other areas of expertise.
Exporting the Sanya Elementarymodel of food education would
be a brilliant extension of cooperation between Japan and the3DFLÀF RIIHULQJ WKH RSSRUWXQLW\
for a culturally appropriate andsustainable intervention that portends improvements in health,academic performance and appreciation and understanding ofcustoms that have governed life
for generations but ones that are
being lost to urbanized youngsters.