Today’s article is about an officer who did everything to bring a change around herself with the help of locally available resources and with the help of common people. This story is about fighting malnutrition with the existing system. But first, let’s look at some of the reports related to the health of our children. 

What does the Global hunger index report tell us about malnutrition ?

• India's GHI score 2023 stands at 28.7 and it is categorized as "serious" on the GHI Severity of Hunger Scale. 
• Related Data and References about Malnutrition from other reports-
• Child stunting is prevalent at 35.5% according to India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-2021.
• The prevalence of undernourishment in India is 16.6% according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report 2023.
• India's child wasting rate is a concerning 18.7% according to India’s NFHS 2019-21, the highest among all countries in the report.
• The under-five mortality rate stands at 3.1% according to the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation January 2023.

Geographically if we see, Maharashtra followed by Bihar and Gujarat have the worst levels of malnourishment in children in India. Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand have very high rates of undernutrition in India. Incidentally, these regions also have the highest population of children, and the highest poverty rates in the country.

The Story 

So, the story begins in Lunglei, Mizoram. IAS Shiksha Sharma went to Lunglei, Mizoram as its Deputy Commissioner. Everything was going good until one fine day her maid enrolled her then year-old son in an anganwadi. When the little one came home, the officer was surprised to see the packets of uncooked dal and rice that the child was carrying.

• Investigation revealed that the majority of the children in the anganwadi and nearby schools were undernourished. Furthermore, the officer noticed that the anganwadis were operating under inadequate infrastructure and not serving cooked meals, fresh fruits or veggies which provide essential nutrients to the kids.
• Lunglei is geographically Mizoram’s one of the most backward and disaster-prone districts where monsoons cut off 40 of the 172 villages completely. Most of the produce that enters the district in trucks from Silchar, Assam takes two to three days to arrive. Naturally, these perishable goods are either unfit to consume or too expensive to purchase forcing people to depend largely on the Public Distribution System of the state. 

As a means to tackle these problems, the officer and her team established “ My School, My farm”, where they set up nutrition gardens in anganwadis and schools. This initiative faced many challenges in the beginning like unavailability of seeds and manure, and lack of access to water for irrigation among others. Yet, her will stayed firm and today, her project has reached more than 713 anganwadis and schools in Mizoram. 

Under the initiative - “My School, My farm”, the administration used recyclable items for planters, built full-fledged nursery beds, grew leafy greens, and fruits and spices. It also gained the attention of the state administration and central government which is now releasing grants to replicate the model in all anganwadis and schools throughout the state for the betterment of the children.

The officer now plans to set up livestock and poultry in these schools and anganwadis so these nutritional gardens become self-sufficient and healthy places. 

What do we learn from this Story ?

• This story tells us that if you want to kickstart a new initiative in a remote district, the challenges will be many that you will face.
• But when you maintain a clear and transparent mode of communication, gain the trust of people and demonstrate the value of your project, people will support the initiative and they will come onboard with you. You can get a lot of work done in a short period of time. Many of the solutions that we execute, often aren’t new but they have existed around us everywhere.
• You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time, you just need to revive solutions that have been forgotten and implement them. Limited funds, time or labour will never be an excuse if you earn the trust of people and take them with you on the path to development and growth.

Where do we lack ?

• The focus of the mainstream development of a society for a long time has been on creating smart cities when it is our villages that need it the most.
• Our villages lack most of the basic facilities, its children still depend on government schools because they cannot afford private schools. It is only when we empower them with good infrastructure and educational institutions that tomorrow a young boy/girl in a remote village in India, will dream of joining the civil services or be motivated enough to do betterment of the society.
• We have to change the archaic ways and build a people-friendly, transparent and accountable administration.

In line with NEP 2020

This initiative goes in line with the National Education Policy 2020 which has extensively addressed the significance of nutrition in education. As children grow, they need to be equipped with knowledge about how to improve their nutritional status and this could be done through hands-on learning, they must also be empowered as change agents to make and implement solutions to tackle malnutrition. Incorporation of nutrition education at foundational stages becomes imperative to keep lifelong healthy dietary habits to ingrain healthy dietary habits behaviours and promote healthy choices for a healthy life and holistic development.

• Owing to the significant role played by the Anganwadi schools in providing Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), a greater focus on the overall infrastructural and training development is imperative to ensure undisrupted and quality education across nearly 14 lakh Anganwadi centers in the country. 
• While the NEP has laid provisions for regular health check-ups for its beneficiaries across the country, it is crucial to ensure the incorporation of nutritional profiles to address malnutrition among children. 
• Incorporation of nutrition gardens in all schools and anganwadis across India may additionally aid in promoting access to nutrition, community engagement, and nutrition education, while also encouraging higher enrolment of students and children in these institutions.

Ensuring nutrition through educational interventions remains a significant first step in addressing the importance of nutrition and eradicating malnutrition in schoolchildren and early childhood. An effective execution of these nutrition gardens through National Education Policy acts as a stepping stone in enhancing nutrition among the future parents and workforce of the country.