Sir, how can we become tall like you?
On a chilly winter morning, the entire school was huddled up outside on the kaccha road to catch some warmth from the winter sun. Exactly like the cover image of this article. There was not much space and this little space was shared among 8 grades. So one could easily hear the next class and its proceedings. In my own class, there was a question.
“Sir, how can we become tall like you?”, asked a few children in my class. I became happy that there was a demand for a dialogue on nutrition. Generally, talk about diet and nutrition was always initiated by me out of concern for malnourishment and I felt like I was giving a lecture whenever I initiated it. To see them take an active interest in their own physical health was a welcome change. A couple of classes earlier, I had taken weighing scales and tape to measure their height and weight. The primary purpose was for me to objectively see if my class is malnourished and the secondary purpose was to learn about measurements and have fun while measuring.
All the children in my class are shorter than they should be and thinner than they should be for their age. Below is the actual data of my class 4 and 5 students, where you can see how much each child’s height and weight is less than the 50th percentile requirement. Simply put, this is how much they are lesser than from average required height and weight according to age.
This is not an isolated problem specific to UPS Ahmadpura chowki. It’s common across the country and across income groups as well. Children are not getting the required nutrition. According to 'The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016-18)', 22% of school-age children were stunted (HAZ <-2 SD), and 23% of school-age children were thin (BMI-for-age <-2 SD). Our children are short and thin. You may ask, “they may not win the basketball Olympic games. So what?” Well, being short and thin, whose core driver is undernutrition, has long-lasting consequences. According to studies, undernutrition has been strongly associated with shorter adult height, less schooling, reduced economic productivity, and--for women--lower offspring birthweight. [1] Even after 75 years of independence, dubbed the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav, we are not able to provide our children with basic nutrition, let alone Amrut.
Coming back to the present dialogue on nutrition, I began asking the children about their diet. How many of you eat eggs? How many of you eat chicken?” Some giggled and said out loud, “I like eating chicken”. One child pointed to another, “sir he eats fish too!”. All of them started laughing at this. One child said, “we need to drink milk regularly no sir?”. "Yes!" I told them, “you have to eat egg at least once a week too”. On hearing this, the teacher teaching her class next to mine, came over to tell me, “sir, they all eat egg and meat quietly without revealing it. But if we suggest to children anything regarding meat, their parents might come to fight to say you are teaching all these habits at school?". This was still in the early days of my school practice and I was ignorant about the economics and sociology of non-vegetarian food. I was also learning to navigate conversations with the teachers at school. So I didn't press on about anything. I asked her, “Ma'am they get their dry rations at the beginning of the month right?” Yes, she responded and followed this with, “some of them already have enough food at home, so they sell the grains.” This last sentence might seem counterintuitive. There is no denying that the parents of these children are very poor. So, it would be logical to eat as much as they can, which can make them more productive for the fieldwork which in turn brings better income tomorrow right? So why might they be selling them? I will address this at a later point.
Returning to the children, I said, “look, you need to eat well and eat 3 times a day. Whatever rations you get from school, it is for you to eat. I want you all to ask for a lot of food at home and eat it really well.” Cooked mid-day meals, one of the most innovative interventions in India, have been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic. Since hot cooked meals are not being provided, children get the same amount each month, as dry ration. (At the present time of May 2022, most states have resumed the mid-day meals) Mid-day meals had huge nutritional and social benefits. It ensured that children get the required calories and did not go hungry. It incentivized children to get sent to school every day. It made sure children from all backgrounds got the same treatment and sat together to eat. In theory, this new model of giving dry rations, may not cater to the multiple things that mid-day meals did. But at the very least, it substitutes the daily cooking with the same amount of ration sent home at the beginning of the month. In fact, in the few interactions I had with teachers, they seemed very happy with this arrangement because it freed up a lot of their time.
I'm happy that there is no Mid day meals right now. It takes a huge load from us daily. It used to cause drama daily. And we don't get the money on time. We have to put it out of pocket and then it comes after 5-6 months. - A teacher
So, what are the issues? First is the removal of a critical incentive to send children to school daily. Second, there is no way to ensure that children will eat the ration that has been given to them. I have myself seen a few children not eating lunch during the lunch hour and often just making do with a 5 rupee snacks packet. Adults at home might eat more given that they do manual labor and need more food. It might even get sold to buy other things. Finally, several studies[2] have now shown that the average Indian household has been eating fewer calories over the last 25 years as the expenditure on non-food items has gone up. However bizarre might this seem, as Indians have gotten richer, they have started consuming lesser food as part of their total expenditure. Even among the food items, people now prefer eating tastier food, even if it meant more money for the same number of calories. So, It is plausible that the dry-rations that children get might be sold to make money for winter clothing purchases or other everyday needs, especially given that income has fallen because of covid. Hence, if dry-rations are given home and left naturally for the households to decide, this trend of malnourishment of children will keep increasing just like adult malnourishment has kept rising despite food security schemes.
Providing hot, nutritious, cooked meals at school is the need of the hour. Its benefits far outweigh the costs. Looking further at the future, the introduction of food items like eggs and the extension of the program to breakfast must be undertaken as well. As far as spending goes, spending on the nutrition of our children is a critical investment, saving millions from a poverty trap resulting from a malnourished childhood.
[1] Victora CG, Adair L, Fall C, Hallal PC, Martorell R, Richter L, Sachdev HS; Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group. Maternal and child undernutrition: consequences for adult health and human capital. Lancet. 2008 Jan 26;371(9609):340-57. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61692-4. Erratum in: Lancet. 2008 Jan 26;371(9609):302. PMID: 18206223; PMCID: PMC2258311.
Impact Consultant | ExAT Practitioner
3yThank you Sharing these insights, Praveen :)