Is this the end of Healthy Harold?
Most Australian schoolkids have fond memories of learning about the dangers of drugs and eating junk food, delivered by a puppet giraffe, in the back of a van.
But that may be no more, after federal funding was withdrawn from the Healthy Harold program.
The Healthy Harold programme, delivered by health and drug education organisation Life Education Australia, will have to revise the program after the funding cut. It is not clear if it will continue at this stage.
According to Buzzfeed, the Turnbull government rejected Life Education’s funding application for $1.5 million for the next three years. The current agreement ends on July 1.
Healthy Harold targeted schoolchildren aged five to 13 years, with the program created to help children make safe and healthy choices, by educating them on subjects like drugs, nutrition and cyber safety.
Life Education began more than 35 years ago, and today it has 100 mobile learning centres reaching 640,000 children across Australia.