Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday with 29 strategic partners to strengthen food and nutrition security through the Healthy School Campaign.

"This collaboration aims to realize healthy, intelligent, active, and productive Indonesian children that support the Pancasila Student Profile and Indonesia's Golden Generation 2045," said Nita Yulianis, Bapanas' Director for Food and Nutrition Awareness.

She stated that the Healthy School Campaign symbolizes collaboration between partners aimed at improving students' health, making them more intelligent and dignified.

"This is in line with a collaboration pursued by the head of Bapanas, Arief Prasetyo Adi, to synergize with all parties, including Kemendikbudristek, to increase Food Security, Independence, and Food Sovereignty," Yulianis remarked.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, on the same occasion, stated that his ministry continues to encourage improvements in quality education with various breakthroughs in the Independent Learning Program over the last four years.

“We recognize that the main key to all these education transformation efforts is the health of our children. Therefore, we launched the Healthy School Campaign, which focuses on developing healthy behavior," he stated.

He affirmed that getting Indonesian children accustomed to follow a healthy behavior is not something that can be achieved instantaneously and requires collaboration from related parties.

"We can establish collaboration with local governments, educational community organizations, and the technical implementation units of Kemendikbudristek," he added.

The Healthy School Campaign is a holistic concept that includes healthy nutrition, physical health, and immunization.

With contributions from several partners, this movement is expected to become a cultural norm, promoting the habit of clean and healthy living behavior in schools, Makarim said.

The campaign has three main focuses: firstly, being healthy and nutritious. This starts with the habit of drinking at least two glasses of water during school activities, the habit of eating breakfast, and consuming balanced, nutritious food and beverages.

The second area of focus is physical health, achieved by regularly stretching the body at least once while changing class subjects and getting accustomed to physical exercises at least once a week.

The third focus is on immunization to support the implementation of School Children's Immunization Month (BIAS), which takes place in August and November.

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Translator: Kuntum Khaira R, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Anton Santoso
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