The School Nutrition Programme (SNP) encouraged schools to make use of the synergies between horticulture and nutrition education to teach adolescent girls the importance of eating vegetables and fruits.
The SNP was implemented in 30 schools, reaching out to 1 800 adolescent girls from Grades VIII and IX in the project areas. Developed jointly by the national project coordinator, nutrition and horticulture experts in collaboration with the school management, the programme was facilitated by the HDTC under the technical supervision of the National Nutrition Consultant.
The preliminary results of the IHNDP baseline survey58 found most families had minimal monthly income and a low consumption of micronutrient-rich food, vegetables and fruits. The children’s nutritional status was presumably poor.
Meetings with the management of three schools59 were held in December 2003 to explore possible collaboration between IHNDP and the schools for the proposed SNP. Basic information was collected including the school’s name, location, whether co-educational or not, grade levels, inclusion of nutrition in home economics curriculum, food varieties in children’s lunch or snacks, whether there was a home garden in the area, water supply availability, and area of the school garden.
The school management recognized the importance of correct food habits and good nutrition both as a subject for education and for nutritional improvement of students leading in turn to improved educational performance. A school nutrition education strategy was planned in keeping with the science and home economics curriculum.
The main objectives of the School Nutrition Programme were to: (a) create nutritional awareness among high school students and (b) promote inclusion of a variety of micronutrient-rich horticultural food in the daily diet.
The criteria for selection of schools included request for this, the school management’s commitment, having a high school and science department, a minimum of 60 female students in the eighth and ninth grades, location within the project area, a minimum land area of 3 decimal60 for the nutrition garden, and access to water. Thirty high schools were covered by the School Nutrition Programme, including two schools in every HDTC area, with a total of 1 800 girl students between Grades VIII and IX and in the age group of 13 to 15 years.
A one-year programme was launched with nutrition education and school gardening activities. Nutrition education included lecture-cum-food preparation demonstrations to build/strengthen existing nutrition knowledge through hands-on food preparation activities. The school gardening activities set up a demonstration nutrition garden in the school and a peer nutrition promotion programme was also implemented. High school students were assigned responsibility for sensitizing middle school students to nutrition, using an each-one-teach-one approach.
Each high school student identified a schoolmate not covered by the SNP and arranged to meet her at least once in 15 days to teach the basics of nutrition and diet recipes. A set of recipe sheets were given to the student “teacher”. This was done on a voluntary or extra-mural basis by the students.
The HDTCs signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the respective School Management Committee (SMC) to set up the garden and to conduct the nutrition education and food preparation demonstration programmes. The schoolteachers were very cooperative and the girls participated actively in the nutrition programmes. Seeds and planting material was provided to the school for setting up of the garden. The school had responsibility for preparing the field, seed sowing and maintaining the garden, including fencing.
Students had to work in the garden under the supervision of the agriculture teacher in collaboration with the Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer or Agriculture Overseer from the HDTC. The National Nutrition Education Specialist provided necessary guidelines for establishment and management of the vegetable garden in close consultation with relevant vegetable, fruit or spice specialist. A list of selected micronutrient-rich vegetables and fruits was proposed by the nutrition experts in collaboration with the project management as well as the vegetable and fruit specialists.
Nutrition gardens were established in 15 high schools in the project area to demonstrate year-round production of vegetables, fruits and fresh spices. The size of the model school nutrition garden was approximately 1.3 decimal (8 m x 6.5 m) with four raised beds. The technical guidelines for the model garden specify vegetable cultivation round the year by bed number and cropping sequence.
Altogether, 14 vegetables, fruits and spices were selected for the school nutrition gardens established in the schools’ premises during the second quarter of 2004. Funds were also provided to the HDTCs for food preparation demonstrations for adolescent school girls in Grades VIII and IX. Tiffin boxes were supplied to 60 girls in each school to bring their lunch and as a motivational reward for participation in the SNP.
The vegetables grown and promoted through the nutrition garden included red amaranth, Indian spinach, kang kong, stem amaranth, early spinach, green onion, black colocasia, okra, yard long beans, country beans, French beans, carrot, broccoli and summer radish. Guava and papaya were also promoted.
The micronutrient-rich vegetables were selected on the basis of nutritional value, cultural acceptability, seasonal availability and ease of cultivation in the school garden. The garden produce was primarily intended to be consumed by the participating students. The school was allowed to sell part of the produce and use the income for buying seeds and garden maintenance.
The technical curriculum included theory and practical modules covering two sessions. Each session lasted three hours from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
| Theory modules |
|
Module I |
Module II |
|
Basic food groups and their functions |
Nutrition and diet in adolescence |
|
Nutritive value of vegetables and fruits |
Nutritional requirements of adolescents |
|
Appropriate food combinations and correct cooking methods |
Planning the adolescent’s diet |
A number of recipes were demonstrated for a balanced meal for adolescent girls, including mixed vegetable-egg soup, sobuj bhath, sobuj ruti, and mixed vegetable and egg salad. Each recipe provided between 400 to 500 kcal and 10 to 15 g protein, meeting about one-fourth of the daily recommended dietary allowance for an adolescent girl.
It was observed that 44 percent of students had learned about food groups and food quantities to meet dietary nutrient requirements and participated actively in the discussion session. Twenty eight percent students had a very clear understanding of the recipes, learning how to prepare them. They could explain the importance of vegetables and fruits in the daily diet, though only 5 percent were able to explain the importance of nutrition gardens. In most cases, they were only told how to establish and maintain the garden (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Lessons learned in daily life
Some 44 percent of students felt they would be able to teach their family, friends and neighbours what they had learned from the school nutrition education programme. When asked about applying this knowledge in their daily life, 37 percent responded positively (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Application of learning in daily life
Some believed that they would establish nutrition garden in their homestead which would serve as a regular source of vegetables for their family’s nutrition.
Students mentioned a wide range of potential constraints with 31 percent of the view that their family might ignore them and not help in applying what they had learned.
About 20 percent of students noted the lack of vegetables in their homestead affecting their regular consumption of vegetables. Avoidance of home gardening by family members, considering home gardening extra work and social conservativeness making women reluctant to work outside the house were the most common constraints listed by the students.
They also mentioned their parents’ reluctance to accept new ideas and technologies. Another reason was that being young girls, their suggestions would not be taken seriously. In the country’s male-dominated society, women are traditionally denied importance in family decision-making. Despite being young adolescents, the students said they would try to find ways to overcome the constraints (see Table 20).
Table 20. Overcoming constraints
|
Ways of overcoming constraints |
Respondents |
|
Convince family members by highlighting importance of nutrition |
32 |
|
Take help of friends in applying lessons learned |
16 |
|
Take help of HDTC |
20 |
|
Establish nutrition garden with parental support |
20 |
| No response | 12 |
An evaluation, three months after project implementation found that students had learned the following lessons from the school nutrition education programme.
Nearly three-fourths of the children were seen having leafy vegetables at least every other day. This is noteworthy and suggestive of the inclination of the students towards frequent consumption of vegetables. Nineteen percent of students ate vegetables more than three times a week and 7 percent between two to three days in a week (Figure 12).
Figure 12. Frequency of consumption of vegetables by students
While it is known that rural communities in Bangladesh usually have some leafy vegetables in the daily meal, the students were found to be eating two to three types of vegetables every day after the start of the nutrition education programme.
Much less fruits were eaten than vegetables with only 7 percent of students eating fruits daily, 22 percent having fruits more than three days a week and 60 percent two or three days a week (Figure 13). Eleven percent of students gave no response because they may not have eaten any fruit in the previous 15 days.
It was reported that fruits were more expensive than leafy vegetables and many households did not have a home garden so fruits were not readily available. Students spoke of the need to have a home garden. Local fruit varieties such as guava, mango and papaya which are rich in micronutrients like vitamins C and A are cultivated in the school garden.
Figure 13. Frequency of fruit consumption by students
Most rural households in Bangladesh are too poor to buy fruits in the market for daily consumption. But local fruits like the Indian gooseberry, hog plum and jujube are often eaten, especially by children, though this depends on the season and availability.
The school nutrition programme also influenced recipe preparation in households. It was encouraging to find that 88 percent of students reported they were preparing at home recipes learned during the nutrition education. Nearly half the students (44 percent) prepared the recipes twice during the three-month period after learning how to do so in the nutrition education programme.
Twenty nine percent of students prepared the recipes on one occasion and 17 percent did so thrice during the period. Only 7 percent made the food preparations four times and 2 percent prepared the recipes five times. A number of factors were found to have influenced home preparation of the recipes, mainly the consent and cooperation of parents, especially mothers. In some cases, the raw materials needed were not available due to the lack of a home garden and the family being too poor to buy in the market.
Almost all students (94 percent) took part in peer education activities, teaching school friends what they had learned in the nutrition education programme. Six percent of the students could not do so as they could not find friends to teach. Students reported that the main information given and skills transferred to them were the importance of eating vegetables and fruits daily and preparation techniques for sobuj ruti, mixed vegetables soup and sobuj bhath. Between 18 to 28 percent of students had carried out these activities.
The information and skills transferred by students to their peers were mostly about preparation of recipes learned in the nutrition education programme. This indicates understanding and acceptance of the practical rather than theoretical aspects of the programme. However, it also highlights that practical learning opportunities must be promoted as part of the agriculture and home economics curriculum.
The school nutrition programme was assessed for its relevance in introducing horticulture and nutrition-linked school learning as well as practical experience in nutritional improvement among the students through production and consumption of horticulture-based food. For this, responses were obtained from the school principal and management committee, schoolteachers, students and parents of children covered by the SNP.
The School Management Committee (SMC) including the principal, trust members, senior teachers and some elected parent representatives, expressed satisfaction with the SNP. Overall, they found the programme concept and activities highly useful and attributed this to the direct relation of the messages to the schoolchildren’s health as well as their involvement in practical agricultural activities.
The programme duration in all the schools ranged from 2 to 15 months. Nutrition education sessions were conducted by schoolteachers in collaboration with the HDTC officers and project nutrition experts. About 90 percent of the schools set up school gardens and the rest committed to establish school gardens within two months. The schools mentioned that the nutrition programme was an excellent means of fulfilling their social responsibility.
A number of reasons were listed by the School Management Committee for not setting up the school garden (see Table 21).
Table 21. Constraints to setting up school garden
|
Problems |
|
School lacked boundary wall |
|
No protection from pests and animals |
|
School playground used for school games/physical activities |
|
School playground used for zonal sports and annual fair |
|
Lack of funds to set up school garden |
|
Inability to look after school garden after school hours/vacation |
The principal and his team agreed that they had an important role in the programme. A verbal notification was given to one of the schools under the Secondary Education Development Project through the Ministry of Education to establish a nutrition garden in rural schools. The SMC pointed out that the school nutrition programme initiated by the project and the visit of the team was very timely as it coincided with their plans to take up the activity which was also recommended by the Ministry of Education. They thanked the project for initiating the process and agreed to ensure protection of the school garden by the school’s full-time security staff.
The SMC agreed to explore the possibility of involving parents in the nutrition programme during the monthly parent-teacher meetings. The management committee also said it would look for opportunities of linking up with NGOs to continue and strengthen the nutrition programme. Many schools were conducting extra-mural activities such as awareness building on social issues, gender violence and fire fighting training in collaboration with NGOs such as BRAC and Songjog.
The SMC agreed to intensify implementation of the nutrition programme as part of practical curricular functions and learning activities. Some teachers wanted the nutrition programme to cover all students and not only adolescent girls. The SMC confirmed that students would be mobilized to work on home gardening and food preparation activities under the supervision of the agriculture and home economics teachers. The management also requested periodic guidance and monitoring from the project.
Experience shows that school gardening and nutrition education are more effective and sustainable if these involve the entire school and are linked to activities which engage parents and the community. Establishing school gardens without parental involvement can give rise to tension within communities. Parents send their children to school to learn to read and write and often do not accept ruralization of the school curriculum.61
Group discussions involving a sample62 of participating students from one of the schools were conducted by the National Nutrition Education Specialist and the International Nutrition Education Specialist in collaboration with the school management. Responses were elicited from SMC representatives as appropriate. Three-fourths of the students said they liked the nutrition education programme very much while 15 percent liked it partially. Five percent of the students did not attend the nutrition education classes and could not provide responses but said they liked the programme and had been told by their peers that it was good. Another 5 percent students could not give any response (see Table 22).
Table 22. Student preference ratings on NEP
|
Preference |
Percentage |
| Very much |
75 |
| Partially |
15 |
|
Like but could not participate |
5 |
| Do not like |
0 |
| No response |
5 |
All students found the nutrition lessons highly useful, helping them understand a healthy diet, how to use different food varieties and prevent nutrient losses through proper cooking methods. Some recipes and cooking methods taught were said to be different from those used in the students’ homes. They had passed on the nutrition knowledge learned in school to their parents and their mothers had adopted correct practices such as washing vegetables before cutting, cutting vegetables into larger pieces and putting vegetables in boiling water.
Students were asked about the number of times the recipes they had learned in school were prepared in their homes. Random questions on what they had learned in the nutrition classes produced the following responses:
Of the 40 students interviewed, two were preparing at home, the recipes learned during the preceding one month while ten students did so occasionally. No student had brought lunch or tiffin to school on the day of the group discussion. Some students went home for lunch while others did not eat anything the entire day and ate only upon returning home. Only 20 students had a home garden.
Parents were interviewed about the school nutrition programme, 63 percent of them being mothers. It was heartening to see that the students had passed on much of the nutrition education information to their parents (see Table 23).
Table 23. Responses of parents on SNP
|
NE information given by children to parents: Responses by parents |
Percentage |
|
Nutrition education is being given in the class; knowledge of nutrients and their health value |
25 |
|
Nutritious food preparations as part of practical lessons |
25 |
|
Eating adequate vegetables and fruits makes us health, with no need to visit the doctor |
12 |
|
We prepared soup in the class; provided complete recipe |
12 |
|
Leafy and other vegetables essential for health and need to be taken regularly |
12 |
|
Prepared mixed vegetable meat soup |
14 |
|
Total |
100 |
All parents who came for the meeting had home gardens. They were asked for their views and to suggest roles they could play in the school nutrition programme. All volunteered to keep a watch on and maintain the school garden during school holidays.
Among parents, 63 percent volunteered to assist in the large-scale soup preparation for students regularly. Some were members of the school management committee and agreed to get the cooperation of other parents through the SMC. The parents also committed to provide daily lunch for their children consisting of a ruti, vegetable, an egg and a fruit (see Table 24).
Table 24. Parental responsibilities identified
|
Assistance |
Percentage63 |
|
Voluntary labour in school garden (by rotation) |
100 |
|
Providing local expertise and advice |
45 |
|
Providing possible land use |
12 |
|
Assistance in preparing recipes from school produce for students |
63 |
|
Follow up participation of other parents |
25 |
|
Commit to send school lunch/snack for children |
7464 |
A benefit of gardening-linked nutrition education is the active role played by schoolchildren in providing food for themselves and in involving parents in the learning process. It must be reiterated that schools offer the most efficient way of reaching out to large sections of the local population, including young people, school personnel, families and other community members.
Schools can take nutrition information and technologies to the wider community, playing a leading social role through advocacy of policies and services to promote nutrition.65 Nutrition education is particularly beneficial for girls as nutritional status has a major impact on pregnancy, lactation and child nourishment.
The SNP needs to be consolidated and expanded, encompassing both nutrition education and school gardening for sustainable nutritional gains. Central to this is promoting horticulture-based dietary and micronutrient improvement among adolescent girls who are future mothers and other beneficiaries such as young people through the school system and community.
58 Draft Final Report on Baseline Survey (2002) Integrated Horticulture and Nutrition Development Project, FAO-DAE-Kranti Associates.
59 Kishoreganj, Jamalpur and Feni
60 237 decimals = 1 ha
61 FAO. 2004. School Garden Concept Note: Improving Child Nutrition and Education through the promotion of School Garden Programmes, SPFS. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
62 School-based evaluation at Rajbari covering 40 students.
63 Percentages include multiple responses.
64 The rest said their children came home for lunch as they lived very close to the school.
65 WHO. 1996. Status of School Health. Geneva, World Health Organization.
