South African Scholar Says Nation's Future Depends on 'Health Promoting Schools'

When Charles Viljoen began his career as a teacher in South Africa in the early 1980s, the country was consumed in violence. Protests against apartheid were raging, and the white minority government had resorted to unprecedented acts of brutality to maintain the 30-year history of forced segregation. During that time, Viljoen, a 22-year-old white man who was teaching in all-black schools, had witnessed unspeakable acts of violence that ultimately influenced the course of his life and career. "It was a terrible, terrible time in our country's history," said Viljoen, now 44, and a professor of educational psychology at Potchefstroom University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, and one of 30 international scholars in the Fulbright New Century Scholars Program.

As part of Viljoen's year as a Fulbright scholar, he is working with EDC's Health and Human Development Programs (HHD) to establish a collaborative relationship between researchers at Potchefstroom University and those at HHD, as well as learn from HHD's practical experience in strengthening "Health Promoting Schools."

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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