An association of pre-primary and primary schools has asked schools to encourage parents to replace junk food in tiffin boxes with healthy options.
Cakes, chocolates, sweets, wafers and packaged drinks during birthdays or other celebrations in school should be substituted with fruits and other alternatives, the association has said.
It is common practice across schools to distribute chocolates or packaged drinks among students when a child is celebrating his or her birthday.
The note to schools, sent by the Early Childhood Association (for pre-schools)and the Association for Preparatory Education and Research (up to Class V), is part of a nationwide #saynotojunk campaign.
The associations want schools to have a strict policy and implement it round the year rather than follow it on a particular day or week, said Suman Sood, a core committee member of the Early Childhood Association (ECA), a national forum of pre-schools.
In Kolkata and its adjoining areas, over 45 schools are members of the two associations.
The associations have urged schools to stop taking children on field trips to soft drink factories or other places that promote “intake of excess salt, sugar and fat”.
Schools should give a snack box menu to parents to follow so junk food can be avoided, a poster circulated by the associations said.
Schools should ensure that the salt, sugar and fat content of food in the school canteens meet the required daily dietary guidelines for children, the associations said.
“Schools should share a snack menu with parents, which is to be followed on different days of the week. On one day of the week, the child’s choice can be given prerogative. So, while their health is being monitored, children are also been given a choice. ECA is ready to support schools by giving recipes that they can share with parents,” said Swati Popat Vats, president, Early Childhood Association and the Association for Preparatory Education and Research, said from Mumbai.
A paediatric nutritionist in Kolkata said that for a growing child, parents should ensure enough iron and protein in the diet every day.
“The primary focus should be a diet rich in iron and protein. When parents come to us, we tell them they should not give processed food to children or reduce such food. An Indian diet is rich in nutrition and the intake of vegetables can be increased by hiding it in a child’s food by putting it in puree form or giving it in small quantities,” said Vidhi Beri, a clinical paediatric nutritionist.
For parents, it is more convenient to give packaged food to kids.
“Parents usually put a packet of chips or cake in the tiffin. It is easy and hassle-free but not healthy,” said Sangeeta Tandon, principal, Shri Shikshayatan School.
The Heritage School, which is a day boarding institution where children eat their breakfast and lunch in school, serves cornflakes, uttapam, idli and vegetable sandwiches for breakfast. For lunch, the school serves rice, roti, dal, rice, vegetables, salad, pickle and raita.
The vegetable gravy has baked beans or gourd in it as protein, the school said. The flour of the roti is mixed with millet or has some other filling like sattu. One fruit a day is mandatory for all the children. Once a week, the children get a fancier meal — Chinese or continental, the school said.
“We do not use refined wheat flour (maida) in any form. Even if it is pasta, it is made of wheat flour (atta). We ensure that there are no more than five fried items in a month and dessert is given twice or thrice a week,” said Seema Sapru, The Heritage principal.
Sood, ECA’s core committee member, said: “Schools have to be strict with the implementation rather than do it as an exercise for one week in a year.”
