Dehradun/Hyderabad: The free breakfast scheme in government schools recently launched by the Tamil Nadu government was one of the many issues discussed at UNICEF's training camp on child welfare held in Dehradun on Tuesday. Against the backdrop of ETV Bharat's recent coverage of the scheme and its impact on the students, we asked UNICEF'S Child Welfare Officer Gayatri Singh about the impact it can have on child's development.
Hinting at a seemingly successful implementation of the breakfast scheme so far, ETV Bharat asked Singh if the scheme also has the potential to counter malnutrition which still persists as a prominent issue in many parts of the country, especially among the poor and the rural lot. ETV Bharat provided the background of the ground reportage on the topic and the positive feedback from the beneficiaries, students and volunteers alike.
"The teachers that we met while reporting the matter gave us a positive review. They said children who have breakfast on a regular basis under the scheme are observed to be more active and have shown improved levels of concentration and response to learning," this correspondent said while briefing the UNICEF official, adding that the same scheme is also being effectively implemented in the government schools in Kerala.
Gayatri Singh asserted that breakfast indeed plays a pivotal role in providing the required nutrition to children, while the scheme definitely holds the potential to counter malnutrition if implemented consistently. "Breakfast plays a very important role in children's nutrition. The human brain needs energy, which requires glucose. Most of the time, the children who come to school either have inadequate breakfast or barely eat anything at all till lunchtime," she said.