Queen Rania Recognizes Healthy Schools Accredited by Royal Health Awareness Society

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Amman) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah visited Manshiyet Husban Coeducational Secondary School in Naour on Monday, to participate in celebrating its accreditation as a Healthy School at the Gold level by the Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS), for the academic year 2017/2018.

In the presence of Minister of Education, Dr. Azmi Mahafza, as well as students, teachers, staff, and other gold accredited schools, Queen Rania recognized the Gold Healthy Schools for their efforts in implementing and sustaining the Healthy Schools national accreditation program for several years.

Her Majesty also met with a group of principals and health teachers from the past academic year’s gold accredited schools, who outlined the impact of the program on their schools’ environment, students, staff, and local communities. The program aims to create health-promoting environments within Jordanian schools that reflect positively on students’ physical and social development, as well as their academic performance.

RHAS Director General, Ms. Hanin Odeh, indicated that the number of schools participating in the accreditation program is increasing, with 132 schools participating in Healthy Schools during the past academic year.  

Odeh stated that 16 received the gold accreditation, 44 received the silver accreditation, and 37 received the bronze-level accreditation. Moreover, 11 schools were awarded “Health Competent” status, providing a one-year period to enhance their health programs, and enroll again in the next academic year.

To date, 528 schools have participated in the Healthy Schools program, benefiting around 339,000 students. Additionally, 1,932 teachers and principals were trained, and 105 community health initiatives were implemented in local communities.

Her Majesty concluded her visit by meeting the RHAS Board of Trustees, where Odeh outlined RHAS’s strategy through 2022.

The strategy focuses on raising awareness about anemia and healthy nutrition, advocating for tobacco control to protect children from secondhand smoking, expanding the reach of drugs prevention and adolescents’ protection from risky behaviors programs, as well as concentrating efforts to increase numbers of male schools in the Healthy Schools program.

For her part, Her Majesty underlined the need to increase the public’s awareness of healthy practices through the development of relevant educational literature, adding that Jordan must build and expand on past successes in order to benefit a greater number of people.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Rami Farraj, Mr. Faris Al Qatarneh, Dr. Mohammad Al-Tarawneh, Dr. Sanad Al-Kilani, Dr. Fawzi Al-Hammouri, Mr. Jalil Al-Labadi, Ms. Dina Al-Saudi, Mr. Fares Al Sayegh, Dr. Ali Al Wazani, Mr. Ziad Shatara, Ms. Zeina Sahyoun , Ms. Razan Shweihat, Mr. Bisher Baker, and Mr. Firas Abu Wishah.  

Manshiyet Husban Coeducational Secondary School was established in 1971 in the Husban area. The school has implemented two RHAS programs: Ajyal Salima for nutrition awareness, and Think First for injury prevention, in addition to its participation in the National Accreditation Program for Healthy Schools for five consecutive years.

RHAS aims to raise health awareness and encourage healthy practices in local communities. It implements several developmental programs in response to local community needs, aligned with the national health agenda. Such initiatives include the National Accreditation for Healthy Schools, Think First, Healthy Kitchens, Youth for Health, Generations Protected, and the Healthy Community Clinic.