The Education of Healthy Eating: “Linking Schools to Agrobiodiversity for Improved diets, Nutrition, and Livelihoods”
The official launch of the six-month-long, “Linking Schools to Agrobiodiversity for Improved diets, Nutrition, and Livelihoods” initiative by NESFAS was held at Ladmawphlang Community Hall on the 20th of May 2022. The event, which was conducted at the solar-powered community hall of Ladmawphlang, saw the participation of 31 school teachers and MDM cooks from each of the 5 (five) schools that have been selected as part of the pilot initiative of the project.
The project’s objective is to increase the access of school children to healthy, nutritious, and diverse balanced diets through school meals. It aims at procuring at least one-third of the ingredients for the school meals either locally or from accessing the school gardens. The project also seeks to increase income opportunities for local farmers by promoting locally sourced ingredients in Mid Day Meals.
Janak Singh, Senior Associate, Livelihoods, NESFAS, speaking at the event, lamented the poor performance of Meghalaya in parameters related to nutritional intake. He highlighted the problem of malnutrition that plagued the state in spite of the abundance of Agrobiodiversity and food diversity. “To make this pilot project a success, we need to work on the various challenges that we face together. We need the cooks to be fully involved and access how we can make use of the rich local agrobiodiversity we have in our Mid Day Meals (MDM)”, he said.
He was followed by Shaiphar Dohling, Community Consultant, NESFAS, who shared a brief presentation on the proposed work of the initiative that is expected to span for a period of 6 months. His presentation included key works such as community mobilisation and mapping of local biodiversity, accessing challenges of the current MDM programs, and setting up the monitoring framework by taking inputs from stakeholders like Doctors, Nutritionists, and other professionals: “We must work together and make this project a success. This is just a start in 5 selected schools in Liatkroh block with the hope to scale up after its success” he remarked in the conclusion of his presentation.
An interactive session followed thereafter, where the cooks and teachers discussed the challenges faced while implementing MDMs and why there was such low consumption of diverse food groups in schools. Another discussion was on the challenges faced by the communities in procuring locally grown food. Rimchi Marak, Lead Associate, Nutrition, NESFAS, gave her input on the benefits and challenges of MDMs and shared valuable insights on how children suffering from anaemia and malnutrition can be treated through the introduction of certain food supplements in their MDMs.
Nestar Kharmawphlang, School teacher, Laitsohpliah, raised an important issue regarding the health status of the school children. He mentioned how health checkups have been conducted regularly by the Health Department but questioned why the health status or report of the students was never shared with them. Here, Rimchi Marak gave a few pointers on how the teachers themselves can spot anaemic as well as malnourished students through a few physical signs. The general consensus among the cooks and the teachers at the end of the event was to have a standardized menu covering the 10 food groups introduced to them by the NESFAS Nutritionist.
Dibasstar Khongrymmai a school teacher from Dewlieh spoke highly of NESFAS for introducing the project as part of the MDM: “MDM is a concept introduced by the government to increase the nutrition level of students. The initiative that NESFAS has brought about in these 5 schools is extremely beneficial because, with this, the MDM schemes will become an important initiative for students to enhance their level of nutrition by including different types of local food plants into their diets.” Nestar Kharmawphlang, a teacher from Laitsohpliah, was of the opinion that children should be provided with MDMs throughout the week and that the salary of the cooks should also be increased.
One of the MDM cooks present at the event, Diana Kharakor from Mawmihthied relayed that many changes have been brought into the MDM scene ever since the intervention of NESFAS in 2019; “School children have now started consuming wild edibles in their Mid Day Meals which was unheard of before NESFAS.” she said.
The successful event concluded with the teachers and cooks pledging to carry forward all the information and knowledge they had learned in the event and start implementing it in their own schools. The need for professionals such as doctors and nutritionists to set up monitoring frameworks was discussed and agreed upon. The teachers also agreed to have a seasonal calendar at their own school as well as to review the food groups available in each of their school gardens. With the support of NESFAS, the 5 schools will also develop menu plans for MDM. The five schools involved enthusiastically resolved to carry forward what the project aims so that they can become “beacons of hope” for the other schools that may come along if the project turns out to be a success.
