27 Nov 2013

Directorate of Public Service Management and Ministry of Education and Skills Development must provide more technical support to workplace wellness programmes, Tsabong Sub-council chairman, Mr Samuel Brooks has said.

For DPSM and MoESD to support such programmes, Mr Brooks observed that schools needed to come up with clearly defined strategic plans and wellness policies to assist the nation to reach its vision of health for all.

Speaking at a BOSETU Wellness Day activity in Tsabong, Mr Brooks said workplace wellness programmes should be monitored and evaluated to track progress, effectiveness as well as improvement.

“These will need to be standardised across regions for them to attract properly coordinated funding both from government and private sector,” the Tsabong Sub Council chairman advised.

Mr Brooks said planned and coordinated wellness activities for schools will ensure productivity within institutions as envisioned in the theme of the day, ‘Healthy body, mind and soul translating into productivity.’

The trade unionists were reminded in their roles as civil servants that they had an obligation to assist in combating chronic illnesses such as diabetes, highblood pressure, cancer, HIV/AIDS amongst themselves and the community in which they operate.

Statistics, according to Mr Brooks, show that out of a total civil service workforce of 120 000, almost 10 000 employees are on antiretroviral therapy and majority are the least paid.

“And it is projected that if civil servants do not engage in positive living in the next decade almost 15 000, that is one in every eight civil servants will be on antiretroviral therapy,” Mr Brooks warned. Mr Brooks revealed that the teaching profession was not immune to the ills plaguing the welfare of the civil service which is reportedly at the unprecedented levels.

Teachers experience fatigue due to several factors that are not limited to poor working conditions, poor remuneration, stagnation in progress, unfair deployment inter alia.

For her part BOSETU vice president Ms Tebogo Sebogodi encouraged her fellow unionists to guard jealously against too much cholesterol intake, arguing that the condition was detrimental to their health.

As a remedy to the problems of unhealthy eating, Ms Sebogodi observed that it was better for her comrades to stick to prescribed diets which she conceded could be more expensive than the normal ones.

However, she argued that it was way better to spend more money for better health. She said that because teachers work under pressure both at home and schools they needed to exercise so that they always strive for fresh body, mind and soul. She also warned that BOSETU was losing some members due to ill health. ENDS