 INTRODUCTION

Nearly 2000 years ago the reputed Tamil Poet, Saint Thiruvalluvar, who is the author of the immortal classical work Thirukkural said:

"Of all the blessings one may have we deem naught as of worth

Except the gift of children full of wisdom on this earth".

Children are not only divine gifts but also the mirror of a nation and the hope of the world. They are the country's biggest human investment for development.

Childhood is a period of rapid physical and mental growth and development. Children are building up new tissues constantly and replacing the old ones. Their nutritional requirements are higher per unit of body weight than those of adults. Good food, adequate in quality and quantity, is essential to stimulate and maintain their growth, to regulate their body functions, to repair the tissues already formed and to supply energy for work. If children do not receive the nourishment they need, undernutrition and malnutrition of one type or other will inevitably result, the type and extent depending on the type and quantity of nutrients lacking in the diet.

Surveys carried out in different parts of India show that the diet and nutrition of a large majority of the people are inadequate in several aspects. Consequently, varying types of nutritional deficiencies result. Today malnutrition is the most debilitating health problem affecting millions of children. Thirty per cent of children of the pre-school age in rural India suffer from different manifestations of Protein Calorie Malnutrition (PCM), also known as Energy Protein Malnutrition (EPM) which criples, growth and leads to heavy child mortality.

Mortality in India accounts for 8.5 million deaths in a year. Among these, 4.7 million are children. Malnutrition of varying grades is the direct or indirect cause of death of 4.2 million children. At any given time, about one million children suffer from

extreme manifestations of malnutrition such as marasmus and marasmic kwashiorkor.

Undernutrition generally refers to inadequacy of calories, while malnutrition is associated with poor quality of meals. Under- nutrition indicates that just more food is the prominent need, whereas malnutrition means that the diet is lacking in one or more essential nutrients, proteins, vitamins and minerals and or calories also.

Malnutrition which is the scourge of the nation, is caused by a variety of factors such as low food production, poor income, poverty, population explosion, ignorance, poor environmental sanitation and undesirable social customs, traditions and habits.

Malnutrition is not a pathological condition due to the defi- ciency of a single nutrient or calories, but a consequence of several interacting factors. W. R. Aykroyd, one of the eminent nutrition workers in India, had expressed that the tragedy of malnutrition in children in India is that it not only leads to high mortality, but also criples the growing generation and damages them permanently. Among the many cripling effects of malnutrition, the most dangerous is the impairment of vision in children.

Due to inadequate and improper feeding, retardation of growth in children manifests itself as the early and unmistakable sign of malnutrition. A malnourished child is dull, inactive, restless, unhappy, irritable and listless. His appetite, sleeping habits and posture are poor. He fails to grow. The slowing of the rate of growth leads to stunting and emaciation. In contrast, an adequately nourished child possesses self-confidence, vitality, vigour, poise, a well developed body and good posture. His skin is smooth, colour healthy and hair glossy. He enjoys good appetite and digestion.

Malnutrition affects not only the health of children, but also their attendance and performance in the school. Improperly/ inadequately fed children cannot concentrate on their studies.

Hungry and malnourished children do not learn, or learn badly. In many parts of India, children have a meal before they leave home for the school, and have no food until they return in the late afternoon. Even more pathetic is the condition of children, of whom there are several millions, who come to school with empty stomaches. Therefore millions who attend schools are not able to study their lessons with interest and enthusiasm.

Hence much of the teaching effort spent on them is wasted. Mal- nutrition at this age stunts both physical and mental growth for a life time, making the victims an economic burden upon the family and country. Even their span of life is shortened.

Millions of children have been brought into this kind of life, though no fault nor responsibility of their own. They are physically and mentally defenceless. They are dependent upon those who are responsible for their care and maintenance.

Realising the staggering dimensions of the malady of malnutrition in childhood, the central and state governments have embarked on several nutrition and health intervention programmes. One such programme is the widely operating school lunch or midday meals. Because the primary school is the only institution available in every corner of the country with day-to-day contact with most, if not all, families in the vicinity, it has become a feasible venue for one of the nutrition intervention programmes. School feeding is a direct approach to improve the nutritional status of children who are in the stage of rapid growth and development, requiring special nutritional protection.

No feeding programme however efficient it may be, can effect lasting improvements if it operates in isolation. It may give some emotional satisfaction to the sponsors but cannot prove rewarding in the long run, unless a viable nutritional component is built into the foundation. Hence the concept of school lunch programme for children as a built-in measure of the primary school is laudable.

The beneficial outcomes of school lunch have been studied from different angles by Devadas and coworkers since 1961 when the school lunch programme was initiated in the Sri Avinashilingam. Primary School. The school lunch is being used as the medium for improving the nutritional knowledge, nutritional status and food habits of children. Several short term and longitudinal studies have been conducted to find out the outcomes of the school lunch.

This publication is an effort to present the findings of the various studies conducted in the school lunch programme of Sri Avinashilingam Primary School. It is hoped that the evaluation studies would help in improving the health and nutritional status of young children and their eating habits and in imparting nutrition education in the primary schools of the country.

References:

1. Aykroyd, W.R., Food and child health, Swasth Hind, 1962, 6, p. 331,

2. Devadas, Rajammal, P. Strategies to overcome malnutrition in India. Home Science and the Nation, University of Madras, 1979, pp. 42-59.

3. Devadas, Rajammal, P. Need for nutrition education. Proc. Nutr. Soc. Ind 1977, 21, pp. 1-9.

4. Cravioto, J. and Delicardie, E.R. Malnutrition in early childhood. Food and Nutr., 1976, 2, pp. 2-11.

5. Gopalan, C. Nutrition and national development. Proc. Nutr. Soc. Ind., 1977, 21, pp. 29-31.

6. Srikantia, S.G.National nutrition programmes: Objectives, implementation and evaluation. Proc. Nutr. Soc. Ind., 1976, 20, p.1.

7. Yang, Y. H. School food service and nutritional improvement of children, International Workshop on Improving Nutrition and Nutrition Education through School Food Service. Workshop Report, 1977, P. 12.