Instill awareness of stunting among children through public-private programmes, says deputy minister
SINAR DAILY REPORTER10 Sep 2023 10:20am
Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying - FILE PIX
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Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying told Sinar Daily that companies could get involved through corporate social responsibility programmes to create awareness among school children on the importance of healthy meals and having access to nutritional breakfast.
"The education ministry is creating awareness on the importance of quality and nutritious breakfast to students through PE (physical and health education) but not through other subjects or co-curricular activities," she said.
Lim said due to that the private sector could join in efforts to create awareness and bridge the gap to create awareness on the importance of having proper breakfast before going to school.
The National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022 conducted by the National Institutes of Health under the Health Ministry found that the stunting rate among children under the age of 5 currently stands at 21.2 percent.
The recent findings by the South East Asian Nutrition Surveys II (SEANUTS II) results commissioned by FrieslandCampina, DLMI’s parent company, are worrisome.
One in three children under the age of 12 does not consume breakfast daily; 84 per cent of children do not get enough vitamin D while 70 per cent of children have a calcium deficiency.
Dutch Lady, one of the private companies who is taking part in ensuring children have access to nutritional meals has launched School Milk Programme 2023 to raise awareness on child malnutrition in the country and nourishing schoolchildren who skip breakfast due to socio-economic reasons.
For this year, it has so far launched the programme in primary schools in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya where 75,000 primary schoolchildren will have access to the milk products on every school day over the next 12 months.
Dutch Lady's Managing Director Ramjeet Kaur Virik told Sinar Daily that public-private partnerships could create holistic, long-term approaches to address malnutrition issues in order to do the right thing for children in ensuring proper growth.
Ramjeet said programmes like this can build stronger awareness among teachers, parents and children as well as policy makers about the importance of dairy for children, encourage the breakfast habit with milk as well as better nutritional practices.
Lim further said the education ministry also collaborates with the health ministry to carry out various campaigns to raise awareness on the importance of students' nutrition, especially breakfast to ensure children have access to proper breakfast.
As for less privileged students, the education ministry since 1979 has been providing supplementary meals to primary school students from poor backgrounds through the Supplementary Meal Programme to overcome hunger among children.
Currently, Lim said about 800,000 primary school students have benefited from the programme.
"This includes students from severely low-income families based on the 2019 Poverty Line Income, students with special needs (holders of OKU cards) and students in Indigenous or Penan schools., involving an estimated allocation of RM777 million per year," Lim said.
Children are considered stunted when they are too short for their age.
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) had previously called on the importance of conducting campaigns to change mindsets and perceptions about stunting and empower young people to be agents of change by equipping them with the needed knowledge and skills.
