The details of the program were reported at a press conference by Diána Széles, deputy mayor of Debrecen, Csaba Papp, director of the Debrecen Primary Care and Health Development Institute (Daefi) and András Becsky, managing director of Debrecen Sportcentrum Kft. and institution manager Czifra Ildikó on October 3, 2023, at the Debrecen Lorántffy Zsuzsanna Elementary School.
As Diána Széles said, among others, Mayor László Papp already announced at the opening of this year’s school year the Mozdulj, Debrecen! the start of the movement’s school program, which is significantly financed by the municipality.
A few years ago, the city prepared a health plan together with the University of Debrecen, during the preparation of which the citizens of Debrecen were asked how much they exercise, what they do for their health, and how much they take care of themselves. As it turned out: the people of Debrecen do not exercise regularly. That’s when the idea was born that the municipality should be at the forefront of encouraging the citizens of Debrecen to move.
Move, Debrecen!, operated with the help of the Debrecen Primary Care and Health Development Institute (Daefi) for the past two years. the movement has so far been able to really mobilize thousands, and not only the people of Debrecen, but also the people living in the surrounding settlements. At the end of September this year, the movement’s health development center, which can be visited free of charge with a city card, was opened on Szent Anna Street, which serves the interested citizens of Debrecen with health screenings, exercise opportunities, and lifestyle advice.
According to Diána Széles, one of the strongest manifestations of the idea of the Caring City is the school health screening program, which is now being implemented with the professional help of the Debrecen Sports Center and the enthusiastic and creative cooperation of the coordinators working in the schools, in the name of preventing children’s health problems and changing sedentary lifestyles. Move, Debrecen! the movement’s school program also complements it.
The deputy mayor thanked the staff of the Debrecen Basic Care and Health Development Institute, the Debrecen Sports Center, especially József Asztalos – Uncle Jimmy -, the school caretakers, the heads of institutions and the coordinators for their participation in the creation and operation of the program.
The rare in the country, the 2 x 45-minute weekly, 2×45-minute, non-curricular, positive, playful and community-based exercise training sessions for the age group from first to sixth graders, which are unique in the country, do not primarily serve the additional physical training of children who already move a lot, but those children whose at the suggestion of the coordinators or perhaps the school doctors, they need more exercise for health reasons or simply to improve movement coordination.
The goal is for these children to experience movement as a joyful experience, and to bring this feeling and activity home to the family. It is hoped that in a few years, the beneficial effect of the love of movement will show itself in a measurable way in the children’s health. As Diána Széles said, in Debrecen, a total of 45 institutions of the most diverse school providers have joined this program.
The necessary infrastructure is provided by the institutions, but the city government gave each institution a HUF 300,000 sports equipment package as a gift, as well as the Mozdulj, Debrecen! also pays the honorarium of coordinators participating in the school program. All this is possible because the city’s economy is strong, and tax revenues can be used to finance such and similar programs that increase the well-being of the city’s residents, emphasized Diána Széles.
According to Csaba Papp, director of the Debrecen Primary Care and Health Development Institute (Daefi), the Move, Debrecen! movement in the city has now become a “brand” that suggests to the citizens of Debrecen that if they want to exercise – do Zumba, do yoga, go to spinal gymnastics – help is close by. Living in a big city entails a sedentary lifestyle, and indeed more than 70 percent of Debrecen residents do not exercise regularly.
Immediately after the coronavirus epidemic, school health screening tests showed that 72 percent of school children in Debrecen suffered from some mild, moderate or severe locomotor disorder (crow’s feet, posture problems, scoliosis). After one year of regular schooling and daily physical education, this percentage dropped to 58 percent, but it is still high. That is why Mozdulj, Debrecen is so important. movement, including the start of its school program, as well as the health development center in Szent Anna Street, which is available to those interested with its services on Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In connection with the school program, Csaba Papp thanked the Debrecen Sports Center, the maintainers, institutions, coordinators, school doctors and school nurses related to the program for their work, and asked parents, if they see in their child’s school doctor’s report that exercise is recommended, then do not hesitate, but live with the movement development opportunity that Mozdulj, Debrecen! movement’s school program can give. With the help of movement, we can raise new and new healthy generations together – emphasized Csaba Papp.
According to András Becsky, the managing director of Debreceni Sportcentrum Kft., even they were surprised by the data, which shows how low the proportion of people who exercise regularly in Hungary is. In the case of children, movement coordination problems slowly become an age-related problem. That is why there was no question of the Sportcentrum joining Mozdulj, Debrecen! movement’s school program.
They also believe that the watchword of this program does not necessarily have to be sports, since those children in Debrecen who specifically want to play sports will find countless opportunities for this in the city’s sports infrastructure. It is necessary to reach those children and encourage those who do not want to train, but to play, and to move simply for the joy of movement.
With the effective cooperation of Tamás Pinczés, an employee of the Debrecen Sports Center, Mozdulj, Debrecen! The professional reference material prepared for the coordinators of the movement’s school program is not necessarily intended for physical education teachers, since anyone who is simply open to exercise, physical education, and a sporty lifestyle can be a coordinator in this program. They also believe that children who like to exercise today will be less dependent on the care of the health care system as adults, and this will be beneficial for their personal lives and society as a whole. The interest in the school program is very significant among parents and children, and according to András Becsky, the more widely this program can be continued, then it will achieve the goal of having a much healthier and fitter society of young and soon-to-be adults. for the city, for our country.
Czifra Ildikó, the head of the Lorántffy Zsuzsanna Primary School in Debrecen, revealed that the school was very happy to join Mozdulj, Debrecen! for the school program of the movement, its own in-house Mozdulj, Lorántffy! with their initiative called As he said, the parents of the children who attend their school understand the importance of exercise, and the school tries to do everything to create a kind of balance between the digital world and sports.
They are in an ideal environment, and I definitely want to take advantage of this ideal environment. The children really like to play, they are very active, and the colleagues are very enthusiastic, many of them are currently active athletes, many of them also have qualifications in physical education, and the school definitely wants to make use of these qualities. Various sports events are regularly organized for parents and families, from walks in the forest to soccer tournaments. They hope that in the future, both children and parents will be even more active, and will get more and more interested in active movement. In short, in Lórántffy you can exercise well and do sports even after that!
(Debrecen City Hall)
