Integrating Balanced Nutrition in Primary School Learning, IPB University’s Homecoming Lecturer Team Develops P5 Module
School-age children (AUS) in Indonesia have quite complex nutritional problems. One in four elementary school children in Indonesia has short and very short nutritional status and 16 percent are obese.
Seeing this, the team of Dosen Pulang Kampung (Dospulkam) IPB University initiated community service activities, with the theme ‘Integration of Balanced Nutrition in Character Learning Enrichment as an Effort to Alleviate Nutrition Problems in School Children’.
“Nutrition problems in AUS are caused by food consumption that does not meet the principles of balanced nutrition. Children tend to choose foods they like without considering health components such as nutrient value profiles and the amount of food they consume,” said Dr Yayuk Farida Baliwati, head of the Homecoming Lecturers Program (Dospulkam) IPB University team.
Therefore, she continued, optimizing the existence of schools has a vital role to support efforts to improve the nutrition of elementary school children.
“This activity is based on the idea that nutrition education with a school-based approach is the most established because most of the time school children are in the school environment,” added the lecturer of the Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology, IPB University.
In its implementation, the Homecoming Lecturers Program (Dospulkam) IPB University team collaborated with Yayasan Taman Pendidikan Rahmat, Kediri City, East Java. This foundation oversees the education unit of Elementary School (SD) Plus Rahmat, one of the Mobilizing Schools that has conducted project-based learning.
In addition, SD Plus Rahmat also has a ‘Berbudaya’ Character Education Strengthening program that has the potential to instill, foster and develop healthy lifestyle skills. ‘Cultured’ character is one of the foundation’s visions.
In the focus group discussion (FGD) at Yayasan Pendidikan Rahmat, the Homecoming Lecturers Program (Dospulkam) IPB University team invited 18 stakeholders, namely the head of the foundation, the principal at each level of the education unit (preschool (PAUD), kindergarden (TK), elementary school (SD), and junior high school (SMP)), teachers of grades 1-6, research and development (R&D), curriculum, public relations, and the Kediri North Region City Health Center.
“The issue discussed was the opportunity to integrate balanced nutrition in learning. This activity aims to review the existence and develop the content of materials related to balanced nutrition that have been applied in the learning process, both in literacy and numeracy,” she explained.
Dr. Yayuk revealed that the focus group discussion (FGD) activity resulted in an agreement to enrich learning in grades 1-6 with balanced nutrition to build the character of students through strengthening the right eating culture.
The enrichment of this material is done through the preparation of the module of the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project (P5), such as being grateful for a variety of foods, knowing the daily needs of each type of food, getting used to breakfast, drinking enough water, doing physical activity, monitoring body weight and getting used to washing hands with soap with clean running water.
“The follow-up to the focus group discussion (FGD) is the preparation of the P5 module which will be carried out through workshop activities on July 10-11, 2024, at the Rahmat Plus Elementary School Hall,” said Dr Yayuk. (*/Rz) (IAAS/SNI)
