ACTION RESEARCH ON INTRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES IN MDM IN MCD SCHOOLS

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ACTION RESEARCH ON INTRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES
IN MDM IN MCD SCHOOLS
Nutrition Foundation of India 2006-07
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• Mid Day Meal Programme (MDMP)
• Nutrition Support to primary education,popularly
  referred to as Mid day meal Programme (MDMP) was
  a Centrally sponsored programme launched in
  1995 with the objectives to
• increase enrolment, improve school attendance as
  well as retention,
• promote social integration,
• improve nutritional status and
• inculcate good food habits in children.

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• The programme envisaged that all children in
  class I V studying in government, local body
  and govt. aided schools should get
  cooked/processed food from 100g of wheat/rice
• By 2001 most states were providing 100g
  cereals/day/child for 200 school days . Tamil
  Nadu , Gujarat, Kerala and Orissa were
  providing cooked food .

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Supreme court intervention TheSupreme Court of
Indias Interim Order dated 28th November, 2001
converted the MDM scheme into a legal
entitlement Supreme court directed the State
Governments/Union territories To implement
the Mid-day Meal Scheme by providing every child
in every Government and Government assisted
School with a prepared Mid-Day Meal containing a
minimum of 300 kilocalories and 8-12 grams of
protein each day of school for a minimum of 200
days.
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Cost and Allocation for the Meals/Child/school
day
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(No Transcript)
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Training Food Service Personnel Lady Irwin
College
As a part of the earlier efforts to improve
quality and safety of MDM, NFI has requested
LIC to conduct a orientation training of all
food service personnel
One of the aspects of training was on including
seasonal vegetables in MDM menu. Therefore the
food service providers had been already been
sensitised on the need and trained in the task
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NFI undertook an action research on
introduction of vegetables in MDM in MCD
schools this was funded by Solution Exchange
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The MCD education department permitted NFI to
take up the action research on introduction of
vegetable with one or more food service
providers . They were however unable to provide
the additional funds for introduction of
vegetables Mother Diary was willing to supply
seasonal vegetables and green leafy vegetables
at the cost Rs 10 /Kg through out the year to
identified food service providers as part of
their corporate social responsibility The
ISKON food supplier was willing to undertake
the introduction of vegetables in the MDM
without any additional funds as a part of
their efforts to improve nutritional status of
school children
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• The Action research undertaken by NFI had the
  following components
• Working with the food service providers in
  introducing vegetables in different forms in
  different recipes
• Sensitisation of the teachers on the importance
  of introduction of vegetables in MDM and
  using MDM as a focal point in teaching students
  about importance of balanced diet, hygiene and
  exercise for healthy normal growth
• Directly teaching the students when the
  teachers are watching

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MULTI-LEVEL SENSITIZATION

RESEARCHER
B. Teachers
A. Food service provider
C. Students
Researcher to student
School teacher to student

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Potato curry without addition of vegetables
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Spinach to be used for incorporation into dough
for palak poori, or gravy in rajma/ chole
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Automated poori rolling machine
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Automated poori rolling machine rolled pooris
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Modification of recipes with addition of
vegetables

• Visible form - Chopped Vegetables added to the
  dish (vegetable pulao)

• Invisible form vegetables puree added to the
  gravy of the dish or the dough ( in chole/rajmah
  /palak poori

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Vegetable pulao
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Vegetable puree added to rajmah
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Orientation training to school teachers
Majority of MCD schools are in pucca buildings.
Many have one or more computers .
Most teachers are graduates with teachers
training. Giving nutrition orientation to them
is easy. Their students , own families and
friends will benefit from their knowledge .
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MCD school children
MCD schools in South Delhi are clean. In some
schools they sit on the ground and in others
there are wooden desks.
Majority of children are healthy, well
groomed. They are orderly , keen to learn. They
enthusiastically take part in health and
nutrition education sessions
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• Nutrition and health education messages
• To be healthy we need
• Balanced diet
• Hygiene and sanitation
• Physical activity

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Nutrition education on balanced diet -miming
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Health education on hygiene
Miming keep nails short
Miming- keep surrounding clean
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Miming Play to be healthy
Hopping
Kite flying
Skipping
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Nutrition education -Using charts
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Hygiene and sanitation

• Teaching children importance of hygiene using MDM
  distribution and consumption as a tool

• Wash hands before eating the meal
• Bringing clean lunch box/plate and spoon
• Eating without spilling

Children bring empty Tiffin boxes to collect MDM-
MDM is a substitute for home food and not an
addition to it
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Follow the leader game to teach food groups
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Anaemia prevention -Puppet show
NFI team performing
Children performing
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Jig saw puzzle to teach sources of vitamin A
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Helping a little girl to show her knowledge !
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A disc game to recapitulate sources of nutrients
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Calendar and Puppet show to teach importance of
green leafy vegetables to prevent anemia
Consume green leafy vegetables- at least 3 times
a week
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Poster and jigsaw puzzle to teach importance of
vitamin A in prevention of night blindness
Consume seasonal red orange yellow fruits and
vegetables everyday
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Posters and backboard to emphasize the
importance of vitamin C in promoting iron
absorption and prevention of anaemia
Consume vitamin C rich vegetables / fruits
everyday
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Name the food game to teach sources and
functions of minerals and micro - nutrients
Consume calcium rich foods to have healthy bones
and teeth
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How all can we eat seasonal vegetables fruits

• Vegetables can be washed well and eaten raw as
  salads (carrots, tomato, cucumber, salad leaves,
  muli)
• Vegetables can be cooked in a variety of
  dishes--
• By themselves as curries, soups, chutney,
• in combination with cereals (pulao, stuffed
  paranthas),
• in combination with pulses (palak dal, sambar),
• snacks(pakoda, cutlet, methi matthi) and with
  dahi (raita)

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• Vegetables in MDM and nutrition education
• Teaching children the importance of vegetables/
  fruits in the diet
• Telling them how seasonal low cost nutritious
  vegetables can be incorporated in home diets
• Inculcating good eating habits in young children
  

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Take home messages

• Fresh seasonal vegetables fruits are
  inexpensive
• they are Kazana of minerals, micronutrients and
  phytonutrients needed for nutrition and health
• wash vegetables very well (to wash off dirt and
  surface contaminants)
• washing before peeling, cutting/chopping,
  reduces loss of nutrients especially in green
  leafy vegetables
• cook vegetables in covered pans with minimum
  water to reduce losses of water soluble
  nutrients

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THANK YOU