Tall order to keep kids away from junk food
While many private schools have been able to introduce healthy snacks in their cafeteria menu, govt schools are still struggling to do the same
Parents can monitor what their children eat at home, but once they step out, healthy options dry up. Instead, children’s palate is assaulted with unhealthy food high in fat, salt and sugar and low on essential nutrients they need to grow mentally and physically.
IMAGES BAZAAR
When schools
ban sale of unhealthy food on campus, vendors make their own makeshift
shops and start selling mealsonbicycles outside the institute.
(Picture for representational purpose only)
Chips, sweetened beverages, instant noodles, fries, samosas, bread pakoras and patties are the standard fare in most school cafeterias. When schools ban them, enterprising vendors set up makeshift kiosks and sell meals-on-bicycles outside schools.
With no running water or quality control for cooking and storing, most
children end up with empty calories and very often, gut-destroying
germs.
“All refined, fried and processed foods are just empty calories because most of the essential sugar and fat the body needs are present naturally in food, such as sugar in fruits and fat in dairy, seeds, nuts, meats and cooking oil,” says Rahul Verma, founder of the Delhi-based non-profit Uday Foundation, which filed a PIL in the Delhi high court in December 2010 asking for a ban on the sale of junk food in schools. “Though traditional snacks are freshly made and do not have additives such as colour and preservatives added to them, they are usually high in low quality oils, salts and sugars,” Verma underlines.
In March 2015, the Delhi high court asked the administrator of Delhi to issue healthy eating guidelines under Rule 43 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, and directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to formulate guidelines, which have since been circulated but are not binding.
While many private schools in Delhi and Mumbai have not waited for government guidelines and moved towards healthier snacks years ago, Punjab, where the state’s child rights commission banned junk food in schools in January 2016, unhealthy foods are still widely available.
Delhi’s Springdales School on Pusa Road removed fried snacks and aerated drinks from their canteen menu a decade ago. The shift in the attitude occurred after a survey showed 70% of the students were overweight and were either suffering from associated conditions or would grow up to be unhealthy adults.
“Children eat only one meal in school. To make the child healthy, we have to involve their parents. Many kids were eating two-minute noodles, fried potato taters or food high on sugar and fats,” says Ameeta Wattal, principal, Springdales, where poha, idli sambar and wholewheat sandwiches are sold along with lassi, chaach and lime juice.
These foods are also part of the cafeteria menu at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, where the menu is changed periodically to include seasonal vegetables. The school also has a committee consisting of teachers, students and some parents. They monitor the nutrition value of the food, the taste and the oil it is cooked in. “Our canteen is outsourced, but we strictly monitor it to make sure that the quality of the food is maintained,” says Manohar Lal, principal of the school.
“All refined, fried and processed foods are just empty calories because most of the essential sugar and fat the body needs are present naturally in food, such as sugar in fruits and fat in dairy, seeds, nuts, meats and cooking oil,” says Rahul Verma, founder of the Delhi-based non-profit Uday Foundation, which filed a PIL in the Delhi high court in December 2010 asking for a ban on the sale of junk food in schools. “Though traditional snacks are freshly made and do not have additives such as colour and preservatives added to them, they are usually high in low quality oils, salts and sugars,” Verma underlines.
In March 2015, the Delhi high court asked the administrator of Delhi to issue healthy eating guidelines under Rule 43 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, and directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to formulate guidelines, which have since been circulated but are not binding.
While many private schools in Delhi and Mumbai have not waited for government guidelines and moved towards healthier snacks years ago, Punjab, where the state’s child rights commission banned junk food in schools in January 2016, unhealthy foods are still widely available.
Delhi’s Springdales School on Pusa Road removed fried snacks and aerated drinks from their canteen menu a decade ago. The shift in the attitude occurred after a survey showed 70% of the students were overweight and were either suffering from associated conditions or would grow up to be unhealthy adults.
“Children eat only one meal in school. To make the child healthy, we have to involve their parents. Many kids were eating two-minute noodles, fried potato taters or food high on sugar and fats,” says Ameeta Wattal, principal, Springdales, where poha, idli sambar and wholewheat sandwiches are sold along with lassi, chaach and lime juice.
These foods are also part of the cafeteria menu at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, where the menu is changed periodically to include seasonal vegetables. The school also has a committee consisting of teachers, students and some parents. They monitor the nutrition value of the food, the taste and the oil it is cooked in. “Our canteen is outsourced, but we strictly monitor it to make sure that the quality of the food is maintained,” says Manohar Lal, principal of the school.
In Lucknow’s La Martiniere Girls’ College, children are encouraged
to eat more fruits and vegetables from kindergarten. “The practice was
introduced by our former principal Late Farida Abraham and it is still
continuing,” vice-principal Aashrita Dass told HT.
In Mumbai, parents associations are sore at the lack of guidelines in Maharashtra. “Schools receive cutbacks from vendors, and canteen contractors also prefer such items because it boosts their sales,” says Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education, a parent-teacher body. Even education officials admit they do not check whether schools serve junk food as there is no regulation against it so far. “We cannot stop a school from serving junk food, as there is no official ban in place. We can at best advise them to opt for healthier choices,” says BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai division.
While many schools said it is difficult to restrict junk food in its vicinity, some have come up with innovative ways to restrict fast food on the campus: Rajhans Vidyalaya in Andheri serves fresh, hot and hygienic food in breakfast and lunch on campus and doesn’t allow home food to ensure parents don’t send unhealthy food. Aerated drinks are also banned.
At Ryan International, Kandivali, teachers patrol the streets after school to ensure children walking out don’t stop at the nearby McDonalds or other junk food joints.
In government-run schools, the hot meals provided under the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal Scheme) are nutritive and safe. The scheme was launched to increase enrolment, retention and attendance while improving the nutrition levels of children by giving them 300 calories of energy, 8-12 gms of protein and adequate micronutrients. However, it was not good enough to keep children in school. A 2015 audit of the action taken on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2008 Report on Mid Day Meal Scheme showed that the enrolment in the midday meals-covered schools dropped from 14.69 crore in 2009-10 to 13.87 crore in 2013-14, while enrolment in private schools shot up by 38% in the same period.
The audit also found children were given less than the prescribed quantity of foodgrains. Moreover, inspections were not carried out to ensure quality. Most schools checked in the audit lacked facilities like kitchen sheds, proper utensils, availability of drinking water etc. There were several instances of food being cooked in the open in unhygienic conditions, the report found.
Few lessons seem to have been learnt from the shocking case of negligence that left 23 children dead and dozens others seriously ill after they ate a pesticidelaced midday-meal at a primary school at Dharmashati Gandaman village in Bihar in July 2013. A month later, 30 kids fell ill in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh; and in November 2014, 25 kids fell ill after eating their mid-day meal at a government school at Gaya in Bihar.
In July 2016,40 students fell ill at Chincholi village in Adilabad district of Telangana after eating food prepared in the school kitchen at a farewell party for seniors. In September that year, 25 students were hospitalised in Kolar district in Karnataka. In September 2015, about 150 students in Chandoor town and Ilapuram village in Telangana started vomiting after having mid-day meal.
In Mumbai, parents associations are sore at the lack of guidelines in Maharashtra. “Schools receive cutbacks from vendors, and canteen contractors also prefer such items because it boosts their sales,” says Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education, a parent-teacher body. Even education officials admit they do not check whether schools serve junk food as there is no regulation against it so far. “We cannot stop a school from serving junk food, as there is no official ban in place. We can at best advise them to opt for healthier choices,” says BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai division.
While many schools said it is difficult to restrict junk food in its vicinity, some have come up with innovative ways to restrict fast food on the campus: Rajhans Vidyalaya in Andheri serves fresh, hot and hygienic food in breakfast and lunch on campus and doesn’t allow home food to ensure parents don’t send unhealthy food. Aerated drinks are also banned.
At Ryan International, Kandivali, teachers patrol the streets after school to ensure children walking out don’t stop at the nearby McDonalds or other junk food joints.
In government-run schools, the hot meals provided under the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal Scheme) are nutritive and safe. The scheme was launched to increase enrolment, retention and attendance while improving the nutrition levels of children by giving them 300 calories of energy, 8-12 gms of protein and adequate micronutrients. However, it was not good enough to keep children in school. A 2015 audit of the action taken on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2008 Report on Mid Day Meal Scheme showed that the enrolment in the midday meals-covered schools dropped from 14.69 crore in 2009-10 to 13.87 crore in 2013-14, while enrolment in private schools shot up by 38% in the same period.
The audit also found children were given less than the prescribed quantity of foodgrains. Moreover, inspections were not carried out to ensure quality. Most schools checked in the audit lacked facilities like kitchen sheds, proper utensils, availability of drinking water etc. There were several instances of food being cooked in the open in unhygienic conditions, the report found.
Few lessons seem to have been learnt from the shocking case of negligence that left 23 children dead and dozens others seriously ill after they ate a pesticidelaced midday-meal at a primary school at Dharmashati Gandaman village in Bihar in July 2013. A month later, 30 kids fell ill in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh; and in November 2014, 25 kids fell ill after eating their mid-day meal at a government school at Gaya in Bihar.
In July 2016,40 students fell ill at Chincholi village in Adilabad district of Telangana after eating food prepared in the school kitchen at a farewell party for seniors. In September that year, 25 students were hospitalised in Kolar district in Karnataka. In September 2015, about 150 students in Chandoor town and Ilapuram village in Telangana started vomiting after having mid-day meal.
“Such cases of food poisoning are very rare and take place in remote areas due to lack of proper supervision and maintenance of kitchen. Otherwise, there is a periodical check on the quality of food. Even we eat the same food regularly to ensure the quality,” said L Ravinder Rao, headmaster at a government school in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana.
Source: 8 Feb 2017 | Mumbai | Anonna Dutt and Puja Pednekar letters@hindustantimes.com
Source Link: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
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