NUTRITION AT SCHOOL

Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body's dietary needs and a

balanced diet, together with physical activity, is a cornerstone of good health. The

international organisations are increasingly focusing their efforts on nutrition as they

underscore the importance of it, not only on at the individual level but as an asset for the

sustainable development of a country . As Ban Ki Moon stated: “Nutrition  is both a maker and a marker of development. Improved nutrition is the platform for progress in health,education, employment, empowerment of women and the reduction of poverty and inequality, and can lay the foundation for peaceful, secure and stable societies”. 

Nutrition is therefore a very complex and multifaceted issue as it encompasses a broad range of topics and, taken form a Sustainable Development Goals perspective, can be taken as the focal point from which one can address every one of those. Unfortunately a big share of the world population faces issues related to malnutrition, this being defined by the WHO as the condition related to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. Whilst many western countries are facing a growing burden of Obesity and overweight individuals, the other side of the coin is represented by those developing countries affected by undernutrition and micronutrient-related malnutrition, with 90 per cent of the developing world’s chronically undernourished (stunted) children living in Asia and Africa. 

Under nutrition is defined as the outcome of insufficient food intake and repeated infectious diseases. It includes being underweight for one’s age, too short for one’s age (stunted), dangerously thin for one’s height (wasted) and deficient in vitamins and minerals (micronutrient malnutrition). According to Unicef, more than one third of the world’s children who are wasted live in India, with the rural communities having the highest rates of undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Other nutrition issues faced by many underprivileged communities is Iron-deficiency-Anaemia (IDA), for which India earned by far the world sad record, and Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). The Indian government recognizes the importance of an adequate nutrition in order to end the vicious circle of poverty and its paramountcy for development, as noted in the national nutrition policy. The same document underlines the importance of nutrition education and the fact that schools are an ideal setting for that. Reason why the Mid-may meal scheme is been designed. Unfortunately, as noted in the previous article the shortcomings about the implementation of the programme are manifest and if we take them from a “nutritional” angle we notice that the programme failed to provide nutritious food as per programme guidelines.Therefore the question is: 

What can be done to remedy to these

shortcomings? The ministry of Human Resource Development highlights the importance of community participation for the successful implementation of the scheme, in order to

ensure an effective monitoring at the local level and underlining the importance of the

participation of NGOs which work at a grassroots level, having a hands-on approach to

such issues and dealing directly with the problems faced by the communities, thus creating a dialogue between those and the government. 

Therefore NGOs such as Heeals can be paramount for the remedying of the government shortcomings regarding the implementation of programmes such as the MDM scheme; tackling issues such as Infrastructure implementation, nutrition education and nutritional balanced meal provision. It is paramount to empower voiceless and unprivileged communities in order to buttress their rights as the issues that their facing are not an accident or a natural outcome of their actions, but they are socio-economical phenomena engendered by asymmetrical power relations and lack of access to the most basic resources and agency. 

As demonstrated by Amartya Sen, hunger and food insecurity are not related to food availability but to the lack of access to it on the part of certain individuals, and if we are to support the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, we have to support and empower those people whom are more in need, making their voices audible as well as endorsing a pragmatic solidarity” approach. As Paul Farmer stated, the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong in the world.

-        By -Andrea Angeli

WASH Intern Coordinator

Source

1 Global Panel on Agriculture and Food systems fo Nutrition; http://glopan.org/sites/default/files/

SDGPolicyBrief.pdf

2http://ucx3x320eshgjxppibt1rqg0.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SUNMovement-

Strategy-and-Roadmap-Ban-Ki-moon-message.pdf

3 UNSCN; http://glopan.org/sites/default/files/Downloads/SDGPolicyBriefSummary.pdf

4 WHO; https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition

5 UNICEF; https://unicef.in/Story/1124/Nutrition

6 UNICEF; https://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2006n4/undernutritiondefinition.html

7 UNICEF; https://unicef.in/Story/1124/Nutrition

8 WHO; http://www.who-seajph.org/article.asp?

issn=2224-3151;year=2018;volume=7;issue=1;spage=18;epage=23;aulast=Rai ; https://

www.hospitalmanagement.net/comment/anemia-prevalence-nears-40-india/; https://

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/51-of-indian-women-aged-15-49-anaemic-most-in-world-study/

articleshow/61538152.cms

9https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/nnp_0.pdf

10 see “Food and Hygiene” article.

11Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development; https://

elementaryeducation.tripura.gov.in/mid-day-meal; see “Food Hygiene” article.

12 Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School

Education and Literacy; http://mdm.nic.in/mdm_website/Files/Guidelines/

3.MDM1%2021.09.2010.pdf

13 Amartya Sen, “Poverty and famines”, 1981, Oxford India Paperbacks

14ICESCR

15 For the concept of “pragmatic