Given the present-day world’s trends where comfort and various gadgets are considered to be the most important concerns, the problem of students’ health promotion has become a significant concern of schools. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a nation that has gained recognition for its advancement and modernization, schools are rising to the challenge of tackling the promotion of positive lifelong behaviours that enhance students’ health and well-being.

With the UAE’s ongoing development and maturation, however, there is an emerging awareness of their requirement for proper health and fitness at an early age. Schools, being a core component of young people’s lives, bear the potential of positively influencing the behaviours and attitudes likely to foster better health amongst the youth. 

Let’s discuss the major role played by schools in promoting healthy lifestyles. 

Role of School in Promoting Healthy Lifestyle 

Here is the major role played by schools in promoting healthy lifestyles. 

Health Education

Unfortunately, some of the things I learned in school with regards to health promotion include; One of the most common ways in which the schools of the UAE encourage health promotion is through the teaching of health education. 

Courses like physical education, biology, and health education deal with issues like balanced diets, exercises, stress, and health consciousness, diseases among others. In this way, schools assist students in making proper decisions regarding their health by presenting them with sufficient information on the subject.

Encouraging Physical Activity

The UAE schools also value the procedure of keeping fit as an essential aspect of a balanced life and exercise in particular is given special attention. This includes; team sports: Which involve activities that are provided in schools as sports where people associate in groups and are organized for the purpose of competing in a game through the use of apparatus. 

Fitness entails individual and athletic activities or exercises done with the aim of increasing physical well-being among persons in schools. Daily physical activity, athletic teams and clubs, and school-based physical activities teach and promote the importance of exercise.

Promoting Healthy Eating Habits

Schools in the UAE are also paying attention to the healthy eating habits among the students. This covers the provision of well-balanced meals in school canteens as well as promotional activities for balanced diets and healthy foods. 

There are schools that adopt meal planning and preparation schemes for students with a view of passing information on healthy catering in an innovative manner. Furthermore, schools organize such activities as campaigns and workshops to increase people’s awareness and introduce healthy eating.

Mental Health and Well-Being Programs

Taking into consideration the indicated correlation between students’ academic performance and their psychological well-being, UAE schools attempt to expand access to mental health and well-being programmes. Such programs focus on various aspects concerning stress, coping strategies and mental health.  

Schools offer facilities like counsellors, clubs and other devices like beads and practices like thinking and breathing techniques in order to support students struggling with mental health issues or to make the student learn how to manage difficult emotions.

Working on a Healthy School Environment

Fundamental to this argument is the understanding that a healthy school environment enhances students’ health – physical and psychological. Current initiatives found in schools in UAE include the establishment of clean and healthy physical structures, availability of fresh air provisions and natural light, as well as proper upkeep of children’s playing and sporting grounds. Moreover, some schools set general guidelines regarding the limitation of sweetened beverages and food products on schools’ territory and encourage more suitable healthy options.

Involving Parents

Teaching for health is a partnership that takes place outside the classroom in maintaining healthy standards. UAE schools actively involve parents as well as the community in the implementation of strategies that promote health through the use of workshops, health fares, and other related instantiations. 

These events equip parents with the necessary materials that will help them in the promotion of admission of healthful practices in the home and in an attempt to achieve the community’s participation.

Schools are the most effective providers of the necessary information and setting of the UAE in informing a healthy lifestyle among the students. Here are the roles that schools are playing today; By providing health education, exercising, eating right, as well as attending to students’ mental health, schools are building the future. The parents and the community of UAE, recreational activities that children and students can take part in, and wellness policies for students, schools in UAE are developing healthy environments for learners. Having schools committed to improving lifestyles as the nation progresses forward is one way of working towards the achievement of a healthy and balanced population in society.