Are we going to make intellectual pygmies?

The govt. can use the civil society, NGOs and corporate sector to assist with school meals, so that the next generation of students will be true learners

 This is in response to the Daily Mirror editorial on April 28 where the Editor writes: ‘Schoolchildren are going without their mid-day meal and the government announcing that there are no funds to pay suppliers..’  

The problem of child undernutrition surfaced in March-April 2022 when students’ school attendance started to fall, and there were reports of children fainting during school assembly and other activity. It was also known, that some primary schools which were receiving a morning meal through the National School Meals Program were being deprived of same, since the money allocated per student (Rs 30/-) back then, was not adequate. The direct impact that nutrition has on the brain growth of children and consequently their learning abilities are well known. There are multiple studies published in reputed journals, describing this phenomenon. Moreover, its well known that the economic and social costs of  malnutrition is significantly higher than the cost to correct it through school meals and other measures.   

Sri Lanka is a country where nearly 70% of children attend rural and underprivileged schools, and are already deprived of good quality education in multiple ways. The pandemic-induced very long school closures exacerbated the slide in education attainments, and the economic crisis following through with the food crisis, became a double-whammy for Sri Lankan children’s education.   

The Editorial mentions the many laudable efforts that civil society groups and the corporate sector initiated to mitigate the school nutrition crisis. An initiative that I have been involved from inception (June 2022) is the Rise Up school nutrition programme (https://riseupschoolmeals.com/), which provides a nutritious midday meal along with a cup of freshly sourced milk to all students in 81 under-served schools, in 15 districts. To date more than 12,000 students (Grades 1-13) receive this meal and a cup of milk, which costs about LKR 130/- per child. The entire programme is funded by well-wishers, individual donors and also some schools are funded by the BMICH CSR program. Monitoring student attendance, student attentiveness and interest in learning, and physical activity, along with regular BMI (Body Mass Index) readings of students have been the hallmark of the Rise Up programme. In addition, parents and teachers form a school nutrition committee in each school, and the meals are cooked by the parents themselves and served hot, to the children. Children in the Rise Up schools are encouraged to start school vegetable gardens, and the milk farmers from nearby villages bring the fresh milk direct to the school.  

The government may want to consider emulating such models, where the entire programme is monitored diligently from start to finish. If school meal programme’s can be out-sourced and funding allocated to facilities like Rise Up, and if the Ministry of Education Provincial teams join the Nutrition Committee in  
each school, we could expect substantial nutrition intervention in each school, and indeed stave off possible malnutrition amongst school going children.  

The fundamental issue is to be sensitive to the benefits that children reap educationally, when they have nutritious meals. For instance, groups of schools in Tamil Nadu had started school midday meal programme’s years ago, and they had observed increased student enrolment & attendance, as well as better educational achievements (eg, literacy, numeracy) in such schools. The TN programs draw a parallel to Rise Up in that, parents cook the meals on-site and serve the children. The difference is that the Tamil Nadu State funds the school meals. Perhaps we could correlate the rapid development seen in Tamil Nadu, with a per capita income of USD 4000+, more than 52% of high school-leavers entering   university, and all school leavers being proficient & conversant in English & possess digital skills, and are very employable in a competitive job market. Indeed, its Finance Minister attributes all these achievements to the nutrition programs they have been offering from primary school onwards for many  years.   

The Sri Lankan government could study such examples, and use the ever-willing civil society, non- governmental and corporate sectors in this country to assist with school meals, so that the next generation of students will be true learners, and not become physical and intellectual pygmies – a situation that Sri Lanka can ill afford.