Tripura school students feed unprivileged children

In a step towards raising awareness about nutrition among the children, a good number of school students in Tripura joined hands together and brought smiles to unprivileged children by sharing nutritional meals.

Taking part in 'State Volunteerism Day' observed to mark Rashtriya Poshan Maah, as many as 28, 566 school students brought nutritional meals from their home and shared the same with the children belonging to underprivileged sections of the society.

The objectives of the State Volunteerism Day, a unique initiative by the Tripura Education department, observed on Tuesday were to raise awareness among the children about nutrition, teach the value of sharing and inculcating the spirit of service, and identify the drop out children, said the Director of Elementary Education Chandni Chandran.

She said the areas were pre-selected by the school authorities. All students shared the foods with other children belonging to underprivileged sections under the proper guidance of the school teachers.

As instructed by the Union Ministry of Education, various Poshan activities were carried out during the month of September. As part of such activities, Poshan Assemblies in virtual/ physical mode to discuss malnutrition and its impact on society and value of healthy and balanced diet were being carried out in 4008 schools.

A plantation drive was initiated for setting up School Nutrition Gardens in 1106 schools across Tripura during this period, the official said.

A Memorandum of Understanding for the social audits was already signed on August 24 last between the Director of Elementary Education, Govt of Tripura and the Director of Social Audit Unit, Tripura.

Total 39,867 students, teachers and community members were involved in setting up School Nutrition Gardens during Poshan Maah. Besides, Parent-Teacher meetings were conducted in 3,224 Schools in offline/online mode. During the meetings, discussions were held on nutrition and its relationship to physical and mental health and wellbeing.

As many as 1,84,865 students were made aware of the portion in the NCERT curriculum on nutrition and physical health in all grades.

An initiative was taken up for conducting Social Audits in four districts (20 schools in each district) through the Social Audit Unit of Audit Directorate of the state as per guidelines of the Ministry of Education, said the Director of Elementary Education.

A Memorandum of Understanding for the social audits was already signed on August 24 last between the Director of Elementary Education, Govt of Tripura and the Director of Social Audit Unit, Tripura.

The Audit Directorate already submitted the detailed 'Audit Calendar' for conducting social audits of MDMS in 80 schools under South Tripura, Gomati, Unakoti and North Tripura districts and will start the audit from October 4 next.

The Department has taken initiative to conduct Social Audit in the remaining four districts-- West Tripura, Sepahijala, Khowai and Dhalai during the year 2021-22, the press release said.

Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is a flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescence, pregnant women and lactating mothers by leveraging technology, a targeted approach and convergence. The programme strives to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, low birth weight in children and anaemia in adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers as well as children.