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The BOKS program is a physical activity habituation program, balanced nutrition education, and a healthy lifestyle through various interesting and fun activities. Through the BOKS program, teachers and principals are given the capacity to be able to facilitate and support the habituation of children's physical activities through fun sports activities, physical play activities such as ice breaking at the start or in between lessons, and reactivating gymnastics culture, provide an understanding of balanced nutrition and food safety in daily practice, as well as getting students used to bringing drinking water to school.
After the declaration of Manggarai Regency as a Child-Friendly Regency (KLA) in 2021, the Manggarai Regency Government together with Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) have continued to work towards fulfilling children's rights through various programs and activities.
Efforts are being made to make this happen, namely strengthening regional literacy cadres to improve literacy for Manggarai children, strengthening Children's Forums (FA) at the district, sub-district, and village levels, as well as the Child-Friendly Village and Child-Friendly Parish programs by engaging parties local Catholic church. The BOKS (Build Our Kids' Success) program will be the newest program to be implemented in 39 elementary schools in Manggarai Regency starting in 2023.
The Chief of Manggarai Regency, Herybertus G. L. Nabit, S.E, MA, stated that the current era forces people in Manggarai to be open with stronger competence (25/01/2023). Competition in the world of work has become wider, so teachers must prepare children well and improve the quality of human resources from an early age, including currently in elementary schools.
"We also hope that BOKS can be implemented well in 39 schools beforehand and after that, it should be replicated in hundreds of other schools. We'll see how it goes. But it must be remembered that this program with WVI is only a stimulant for us. There are parts that schools need to contribute so that they are not completely dependent on outside help and then become more independent. We need to open ourselves up and continue learning to create a fun and safe learning atmosphere for children," said Regent Hery in his remarks at the launch of the BOKS program for Manggarai Regency which was held at SDI Wangko.
This activity was also attended by regional officials from the district to sub-district levels including the Head of the Education, Youth and Sports Office (PPO) and the Regional Secretary (Sekda) as well as school principals and teachers from 4 BOKS target sub-districts in Manggarai.
The BOKS program is a physical activity habituation program, balanced nutrition education, and a healthy lifestyle through various interesting and fun activities. Through the BOKS program, teachers and principals are given the capacity to be able to facilitate and support the habituation of children's physical activities through fun sports activities, physical play activities such as ice breaking at the start or in between lessons, and reactivating gymnastics culture, provide an understanding of balanced nutrition and food safety in daily practice, as well as getting students used to bringing drinking water to school.
"Hopefully, the BOKS program can be a trigger for the habits of children in Manggarai to have an active and healthy lifestyle with good nutrition," said Saskia as Head of the Wahana Visi Indonesia BOKS Program Team.
In addition to answering the fulfilment of children's rights to play and move, the BOKS program is also considered to be able to support the achievement of the KLA indicators for the Education and Leisure Time Utilization cluster. This is also in line with the National Action Plan for Increasing the Welfare of School-Age Children and Youth (RAN PIJAR) stipulated in Permenko PMK Number 1 of 2022, where the habituation of physical activity and education, as well as fulfilment of nutrition for school children, are 2 important components in it.
Written by: Maria Ninens Beatriks Jendo, Education Officer
