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The Health Promoting School is an outgrowth of the World Health
Organization's (WHO) 1994 Global School Health Initiative, which
identified schools as key settings to improve the health and well-being
of students, families, and their communities. WHO defines the Health
Promoting School as one that is "constantly strengthening its
capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning, and working."
Viljoen is exploring the concept of the Health Promoting School
as a way to heal South Africa's fractured society. To accomplish
this, he is developing indicators that track the factors and activities
within school settings that contribute to the physical, psychological,
social, environmental, and spiritual well-being of students as well
as their families. Such indicators would be used to monitor school
policies, services, programs, and health and educational outcomes.
The ultimate goal is to establish a Health Promoting Schools Network
in South and southern Africa, and create a national clearinghouse
for Health Promoting Schools in South Africa, where baseline data
would be kept.
"We absolutely see the development and use of health promoting
indicators as a prerequisite for reaching a democratic ideal in
South Africa," said Viljoen, who entered teaching as a way
to spur change in South Africa at an individual level. Now, through
the Fulbright, he is hoping to translate this passion nationally.
The New Century Scholars Program is a new Fulbright scholarship
established by the U.S. State Department to build a greater understanding
between academic and professional leaders around the world. The
research focus of the first (2001-2002) program year is "Challenges
of Health in a Borderless World."
South Africa has only had a multi-racial, democratic government
since 1994, Viljoen pointed out, when apartheid was abolished and
the country elected its first black leader, Nelson Mandela. Yet
still, South Africa is in turmoil. Crime and violence are rampant,
and unemployment is high. "It is still a very racially charged
society, and professional people continue to leave the country;
we are still in a very difficult stage," Viljoen said. Meanwhile,
AIDS is ravaging parts of the country. "We are not on the international
agenda, and we need the collaboration of others to move toward our
democratic ideal," he said, adding: "One of the best ways
to change our society is through schools."
More than half of South Africa's population is under the age of
20, and there are numerous obstacles to their growth and development.
The statistics are formidable: Eighteen percent of black youth,
ages 20 to 24, have never attended school, and only 45 percent of
those black youth who do attend reach the secondary level. Three
million of the nation's 11.5 million young people between 16 and
30 are jobless.
And recent statistical indicators show that South Africa's public
education system is in "dire straits," said Viljoen. The
system has been characterized as "inefficient, costly, unequal,
and poor in quality," he noted. And one study estimated that
26 percent of South Africa's 361,000 teachers were considered inadequate
or under-qualified.
"If we can get a scientific understanding of the nature, principles,
and processes of Health Promoting Schools, I believe we can contribute
to the development of positive, competent, and confident human beings
in South Africa's next generation," said Viljoen.
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