MALNUTRITION AND POOR HEALTH AMONGST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: PROBLEMS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

Abstract

The Indian education system has undergone a paradigm change in the last few years. The focus has been on many fronts: increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in schools, making students physically and mentally fit and having a creative and employable pool of young adults who can steer the wheel of progress and help in the nation building. Though success is being achieved in improving the enrollment in all levels of school education and many interventions in imparting quality education have shown positive results, many areas are still gray. Malnutrition in children has been taken up as a national task by many Indian governmental agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which has rolled out various policies and schemes. However, school children, especially those belonging to marginalised communities, suffer from various nutritional deficiencies and diseases. Mid-day meal scheme, an important initiative by the Government of India, was envisaged to cater to the food and nutritional requirements of the students. Though the scheme has been able to attract more pre-primary  and middle-school students in many rural and semi-urban areas and is helping the low-income families that could not meet the diet requirements of the children, young girls and adolescent boys in many parts of the country still suffer from malnutrition. Further interventions are required to tackle this issue. It is suggested that a diverse food basket comprising local underexploited cereal crops that are region-specific besides local fruits and vegetables (both wild and cultivated) should be included in the meals and such habits need to be promoted by the government agencies through print and digital media so that Indian families may know their benefits and adopt these food-habits. This will also help get optimum value for the local wild and cultivated produce and increase net family income besides helping young school-going students overcome nutritional deficiencies.