Malnutrition among children in the age group of 0 to 19 years remains a problem in India. According to the National Comprehensive Nutrition Survey (2016-18), 22% of school-age children (5-9 years old) were stunted and 24% of adolescents (10-19 years old) were underweight for their age. Although that’s one side of the coin, the study also showed that overweight and obesity conditions are on the rise.
Bengaluru-based non-profit organization Nourishing Schools Foundation (NSF) aims to address this issue by bridging the nutrition awareness gap among school children and inspiring them to become problem solvers.
Archana Sinha, co-founder and CEO of NSF, said the organization, which uses a “toolkit-based approach,” has implemented programs in more than 230 public schools nationwide. The program is said to have affected more than 60,000 children. The nonprofit is currently preparing to roll out the toolkit for private schools, with Bangalore as one of its focus cities.
In an interview with hinduismSinha will provide new insights into where Karnataka stands in terms of combating nutritional challenges and what needs to be kept in mind while organizing such programs in a country where food is a complex subject. Let’s talk about the program.
Could you tell us about your work?
At the heart of our work is supporting children to learn to take responsibility for addressing malnutrition and working with a range of stakeholders to enable this. So far, we have served more than 230 schools across the country, impacting more than 60,000 children.
In Karnataka, our efforts have been at the institutional level. Around 2015, we worked with the Karnataka government to implement the central government guidelines on food safety, hygiene and mid-day meal nutrition. GoK has collaborated with us to publish a booklet for the training of midday meal cooks and helpers.
Our toolkit is a way to work with public schools across the country. We offer a box of games and activities developed with various partners. This toolkit allows children to learn about nutrition while having fun. They then work on problem solving while taking on a variety of projects.
Please tell us about the relevance of the toolkit and how it is being rolled out in schools.
Many nutrition programs are targeted at pregnant women and young mothers. And they tend to have a hard time concentrating. So we thought of contacting the school and talking to the boys and girls children from 4th grade to her 9th grade. This is how the toolkit was born.
Plan various topics related to health and nutrition, such as meals and food, water, hygiene and hygiene, agriculture, midday meals, etc. For each of these, we partner with experts and organizations to develop games and activities. But awareness alone is not enough.
So we use that knowledge as a base to inspire them to execute small, solution-driven projects.
This could be like starting a school garden to supplement midday meals and expand access to food. There is a school manual that supports this.
Alternatively, consider setting up a DIY handwashing station within your school using readily available materials.
Before implementing it in your school, we conduct a baseline survey to understand your specific challenges and send a customized report to your school.
The program runs for 8 weeks and ends with a midline survey. All this happens in his first grade.
In the second year, we will deploy an upgraded version of the toolkit and also conduct an endline study to determine the overall impact. We found that nutritional deficiencies are decreasing. In some cases, educational outcomes improved and behavior changed.
We are also currently developing a model to engage students in private schools and are also looking to expand our presence in schools in Karnataka.
For example, we are working with the Children’s Foundation of India to roll out a program in seven schools on the outskirts of Bangalore this year.
Is a toolkit for private schools different from one for public schools?
It is similar, but requires certain adaptations.
Public schools face challenges such as the lack of proper sanitation and water facilities. This may not be so difficult at private schools.
However, there may be other food-related concepts involved, such as a balanced diet. So adapt accordingly.
If you are working with a private school, the lack of information is less of a problem. If anything, they are overwhelmed with information. So for those, we should try to really simplify and make them easier to understand.
On the other hand, in public schools, you have to work a little more on the basics and familiarize them with the concepts.
The second difference is that private schools are more tech-savvy and can utilize technology more.
Third, it’s a lot of guesswork because we don’t have exact data. What we have seen is that high rates of undernutrition are a major challenge in public schools. On average, 15-30% of children are undernourished, and obesity and overweight tend to be in the 1-4% range.
My hunch is that children being obese or overweight could also be a challenge, as private schools don’t exactly address issues of deprivation most of the time. Micronutrient deficiencies and hidden hunger can be a problem. Research shows that as income level increases, the percentage of fat intake increases and the percentage of protein intake decreases. Therefore, we will need to talk a lot about dietary diversity and the importance of a balanced diet. We’re not going to address the affordability issue as much.
If you get your parents involved, you might get a slightly different effect.
What are the schedule and goals for the new program?
Online modules are expected to be available by next month. A good time to start levels 2 and 3 is around July.
We hope to have 30 to 50 schools participate in the first year, and we are researching different cities to see which schools will have the most students participating.
Personally, since we are based in Bangalore, we hope that at least 10 schools in the city will participate in this event.
How much does the toolkit cost?
The system, which is being implemented in public schools with the help of CSR partners, costs about 2.5 million rupees per school per year, or about $1,250 per child per year.
That being said, doing it at a private school is more expensive. We aim to provide most elements of this program at a highly subsidized cost. Let’s say 10 students from a private school came together as a team and ran it at their school for about 5 months. You can charge anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 per month.
What is the situation in Karnataka when it comes to child nutrition?
There seems to be room for improvement.
Looking at national data, the proportion of children under 5 who are chronically malnourished was previously around 38%, but between the 2015 National Family Health Survey and the latest survey published in 2021. It has decreased to about 36%. Approximately 2% reduction.
In Karnataka, it was around 36%, but it has come down to 35.4%, a decline of barely 1%.
Nationally, the 15-49 age group appears to be making better progress. The proportion of undernourished men and women decreased by about 4 to 5 percentage points. On the other hand, in the case of Karnataka, the reduction was slightly smaller, in the range of 2-3 percentage points.
A major difference is seen in the proportion of people who are overweight or obese. This figure for men and women in India is 23-24%, while in Karnataka it is around 30%. This figure was earlier at 22-23% in Karnataka. At the national level, this statistic is also increasing, but only by 2-4%.
Food and food choices are often a topic of controversy in India. Will it impact your operations?
We took a very radical approach and gave children responsibility. This is because some solutions apply to all environments, while others need to be tailored to geography, climate, etc.
Something as simple as a school garden would look completely different in Rajasthan or Assam. Water availability, what can be grown, and even local dietary patterns all vary greatly.
Therefore, it is important to remain broad enough to be relevant to a large national audience like ours, while at the same time being able to adapt to local needs, and we always strive to do so. I’ve been thinking about it.
It’s not about taking a position on this diet or that diet. It’s important to meet people with all kinds of practices. Because the only way you can bring about change is if you give them the flexibility to incorporate their own beliefs, habits, and habits into it.
