Hunger and Education: A reciprocated relationship

Anant Arora, Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer, The Akshaya Patra Foundation highlights that as the fastest growing economy, India’s role will be key in achieving the zero hunger target including ending all forms of malnutrition for children

The pandemic has exacerbated world hunger with a far reaching impact on child malnutrition. Sounding the bugle for urgent action, the UN formulated its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and crafted 17 goals that urge all developed and developing member countries to come together for a global partnership.

These sustainable development goals (SDGs) recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

With India poised as one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, the country is uniquely placed to deliver on its commitments with a special focus on SDG 2.2 of “ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030 for children under 5”. 

Breaking the chain, the correlation between hunger and illiteracy:

Education and classroom hunger go hand in hand. In order to fight one, the other has to be tackled at grassroots levels. Which is why doubling down on efforts to provide free, incentivised education will be in vain unless classroom hunger is tackled.

As per a report by IISC,¹ school closures have deepened the nutritional crisis as more than 100 million children in India were mainly dependent on school meals for their daily dietary requirements. India’s Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme which is the largest school feeding program in world, is also one of the three main food-based safety nets in the country. Ever since its introduction it has proven to be a tested method of bringing more children to school.

The hot, nutritious meals serve as a motivation for children to keep coming back to school, thereby, contributing to UN’s SDG 4 which prescribes an “inclusive and equitable quality education” and promotes “lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

Doubling down efforts on this front is key to incorporate not just the habit of healthy living but could also be the only chance for children from economically backward communities to break the vicious cycle of poverty, by empowering themselves via education.

Back to school

Malnutrition in children has emerged as a silent national emergency and accounts for 68 per cent of all infant mortality in India. Malnutrition adversely affects a child’s chance of survival and

learning ability, and increases susceptibility to illness. A 2017 study on domains of nutrition stated that people look at nutrients in terms of numbers and not on the nutritional value. Education in the three identified domains of human nutrition: Basic Nutrition, Applied Nutrition, and Clinical Nutrition, starting from elementary school could be a game-changer in the global fight against malnutrition and hunger.

The scheme puts special focus on the roles played by schools and educators in eliminating malnutrition by including more nutrition-sensitive programs in the curriculum and making an impact on the underlying determinants of nutrition and child development, including poverty, food insecurity, and lack of access to adequate care resources and adequate health, water, and sanitation services.

School feeding programmes offer a possibility for exploring diet diversity, while also encouraging children from poverty-stricken families to have a chance at leading a healthy life and access quality education by reducing classroom hunger, improving attentiveness and increasing attendance. The knowledge that children will receive a hot meal at school is a powerful incentive for parents to send their children to school.

The ongoing mid-day meal schemes in the country also act as potential support towards further enhancing the idea of food fortification since under the Centre’s pilot scheme on “Fortification of Rice & its Distribution under Public Distribution System”. Many states including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh have already begun distributing rice fortified with essential micronutrients and others are on the way.

Fortifying health for faster progress

As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) Food Fortification Resource Centre (FFRC), over 70% of the Indian population consumes less than half the daily recommended dietary allowance of micronutrients per day. The pilot food fortification scheme is visibly addressing this micro-nutrient deficiency among Indian citizens and curbing serious non-communicable diseases.

Since the 1950s, fortification has been a common practice in India but has been limited to salt and Vanaspati hydrogenated edible oil. However, today, other food items issued by the FSSAI for mandatory fortification include wheat flour, maida, salt, refined edible vegetable oil and milk. 

As per FSSAI-FFRC case studies, while regular intake of fortified wheat flour showed a decrease in anaemia levels, consumption of fortified milk resulted in 18 per cent lower incidence of diarrhea and 26 per cent lower incidence of pneumonia. As for the use of fortified edible oil, it depicted a significant 90 per cent drop in cases of xerothalimia (abnormal dryness of the conjunctiva and cornea of the eye).

Expected to benefit about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh schools across the country, these hot, nutritious meals that include fortified rice are extended to students studying in pre-primary levels of government and government-aided primary schools, in addition to those already covered under the scheme.

Policy intervention

In line with the UN SGDs idea that education would be the foundation on which the success of all goals is built, especially food security, the Centre has introduced a new education policy that aims to universalize education and make India a global knowledge superpower.

The policy now includes a mid-day meal breakfast focusing on the student’s health, particularly mental health, and the deployment of counsellors and social workers.

The Union Budget 2022-23 for school education spending is Rs 63,449 crore and has increased by 22 per cent over its previous year’s revised allocation. The higher education budget has also increased by 13 per cent over its previous year’s allocation and is Rs 40,828 crore. This allocation of funds will back several key initiatives in the education sector including distance and online learning, critical thinking and vocational skills, and reforms to transnational education and ensure universal access to quality education for all children.

These policy interventions along with the ongoing school feeding programmes can encourage school enrollments further promoting the right to education and putting a strong foothold in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.