ABU DHABI // A school in the capital is following in the Government’s footsteps with a happiness initiative for its staff, to get them healthy and motivated.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab Pakistani School has started a campaign to make its staff “happy, healthy and positive”.
During the month-long campaign, teachers will have their weight, height and BMI registered with the school nurse, and participation is mandatory, the school said. School principal Abdul Qudus Saggu said that healthy staff would help to bring about positivity in the classroom.
“I want to bring a cultural change in the school by changing attitude and habits. And health plays a significant role in this regard,” the 61-year-old said.
“We forget to take care of ourselves and put on extra weight, which puts pressure on our heart, joints and shortens our life. A healthy and fit employee with a peak-performing brain is an asset for an organisation.”
When he joined the school last December, Mr Saggu said he found most staff members to be overweight. “Most of them were leading an unhealthy life – lack of sleep, eating unhealthy food, overweight – which was affecting their overall personality and, most importantly, performance,” he said. “As a result the school environment had become negative.”
The principal said many of the school’s 130 staff did not initially take the campaign seriously but now, “many of our colleagues have not only started a healthy lifestyle but several of them have already lost weight”.
Teacher John Victor lost six kilograms. “I was following a lazy and unhealthy lifestyle. I realised my unwanted fat was not only affecting my appearance but also slowing down my performance, so I decided to join the campaign and now, in just a few weeks, I have lost 6kg,” said the 27-year-old head of science.
Surayya Bano, 65, the school nurse, blamed unhealthy food for the teachers’ weight problems. “Most of the staff members cannot live for even a day without fizzy drinks and junk food,” she said.
“[Now], with the school campaign, everyone wants to look better and lighter. It’s a good change.”
She said the teacher campaign would also have an affect on pupils. “We should also encourage our students to follow a healthy lifestyle,” Ms Bano said.
“This is the right time to teach them, especially when they can see that their teachers are making an extra effort to follow a healthy and positive lifestyle.”
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
