Guwahati: Data-led innovation in the form of nutritional toolkits has evolved a new mechanism for children across over 90 schools in Jorhat and Golaghat districts of upper Assam to adopt healthier habits to meet their nutritional needs.
The Nourishing Schools Foundation(NSF), leading the mission in various states including Assam, aims to comprehend the nutritional well-being of students using tailored methodologies suitable for adolescents (students from 4th to 9th grades).The foundation gathers annual data on various factors, encompassing the student’s age, school, handwashing practices, dietary habits, and household facilities (such as access to sanitation and drinking water). In evaluating a student’s nutritional status, the NSF also acquires information about their midday meal consumption, physical measurements (height, weight and mid-upper arm circumference), and conducts a haemoglobin check to identify the prevalence of anaemia.
The NSF provides schools with a comprehensive toolkit — available online and offline, featuring nutrition-focused games and activities. Emphasising nutrient education, the kit also encourages school garden management and the creation of handwashing stations for hygiene. NSF conducts a survey of adolescent students’ nutritional status, tracking behavioural changes. Results are shared with students, parents, and teachers. Over a three-month period, the toolkit, covering important subjects like food and nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, and climate-resilient agriculture, is implemented through student ministers (representatives). Post-implementation of the toolkit, NSF assesses progress through midline surveys, guiding modifications for the second cycle, followed by an endline survey within a year.
“Adolescents are more susceptible to addressing the nutritional deficiencies that may have occurred during childhood. Schoolchildren belonging to the tea garden workers’ community were also enabled to be self-aware and reverse malnutrition by engaging with our Nourishing Schools toolkits as a part of various school subjects,” said Archana Sinha, co-founder and CEO of NSF.
The data-driven models have drastically helped adolescent school-going children and resulted in a 14%-point decrease in undernourishment among schoolchildren, a 32%-point increase in schoolchildren who washed their hands with soap and sanitiser, and a 14%-point increase in children who noted that they could take charge of their own nutrition.
Anupama Sarmah Baruah, headmistress of Pachim Kanikar School, Golaghat, said, “The toolkits over the past year included activities surrounding nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and awareness programmes. The students have shown significant improvement in academic performance and productivity over the past year alone, and have also been instrumental in raising awareness amongst their peers and family members.”
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