Last month, the world leaders gathered for the Growth for Growth (N4G) summit in Paris. It was also a time for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to announce the expansion of the United Nations on nutrition from its original time limit of 2016-25 to 2030.
This can be a significant twist in nutrition, not only to accelerate progress but to focus on the access of food – to understand what people eat, how they eat, and why they eat, especially when for children. Nutrition is not just a health worry. It is complicated with education, equity and environmental stability.
So far, global nutritional efforts have focused on the first 1,000 days of life – from conception to the age of two – as an important window to prevent malnutrition. But now we know that the next 4,000 days just matters. This includes the duration of adolescent development – rapidly offering the second window of opportunity to overcome the time of physical, emotional and behavioral changes and childhood deficiency.
Good nutrition during this phase can help children catch on development and establish a foundation for long -term health. But to do this, we should move our attention just to teach them to teach them how to eat well.
A side event at the Paris summit-“Learn to eat well: as the bio-division diet and agents of change”-made this point loudly and clear. This indicates a global change in thinking: food and nutritional education should begin in schools, go beyond the count of calories, and children should help make options that are good for their and planets.
A changing world
Today, children are growing up in a world where food is everywhere – ordered with a tap, transported to the door, and heavy marketing. Choosing what food has become increasingly complicated.
Most children lack knowledge and skills to make healthy options. Their diet is often shaped by habits, colleagues impact or advertising rather than nutrition or tradition. As a result, many children skip breakfast, eat very few fruits and vegetables, and eat too much sugar and processed food.
Importance of dietary diversity
A major casualties are dietary variety – eating various types of foods to achieve all nutrients of body needs. The United Nations recently adopted the minimum dietary diversity as a global indicator under the Sustainable Development Target 2 (End Hunger). It just asks: Did a child eat at least 10 food groups in the last 24 hours?
Sadly, in many places – most children in India, including both cities and villages – do not. Their diet lacks diversity, which damages their health and reflects deep problems in our food systems and education.
Poor diet is related to chronic diseases and mental health issues like malnutrition, childhood obesity, diabetes. Research suggests that about 70% of preventive adult diseases begin with childhood habits – especially eating habits. It highlights the immediate need to start early, and schools are the best places for the manufacture of healthy habits.
Nevertheless, food and nutritional education is mostly disappeared in classes or outwards and not associated with real life. The absence of a proper course and age-appropriate teaching resources makes children even more difficult to teach to eat well. Teachers often lack training and equipment to teach it well. Without structured guidance, schools struggle to provide meaningful food and nutrition education.
This is why we need a structured and age-appropriate course that goes beyond food groups and includes lifestyle habits and environmental awareness. It should begin quickly – at the preschool level – and at least grows with the child to the mid -mid stage, which helps them add dots between food, health, identity and stability.
Everything in such a course can cover everything how the human body works and diverse foods are important in our diet, how the food system affects the environment. A central part of it should promote bio-class diets-which include various types of local, seasonal and culturally familiar foods. These diets provide better nutrition, support local farmers, reduce environmental impact and preserve traditional food knowledge.
It should be a part of school life
Teaching children to eat well should not be limited to awareness sessions or topical activities. It needs to be woven in school life. This means that weekly text with age-appointed, well-designed learning materials, healthy school canteens, kitchen gardens, simple cooking sessions and student-led campaigns. These real -life experiences help children to build values around permanent knowledge, habits and food, health and well -being.
All over the world, schools are already showing what is possible – students grow vegetables, cook food, read food labels, and learn how their food options affect their health and planet.
In India, the National Education Policy and School Health and Welfare Program have made a place for such integrated learning. But we need all a clear structure, comprehensive course, at least a dedicated weekly session through academic year, proper teaching resources and properly trained teachers.
Children should be seen not only as learners but also as major influencers. With correct knowledge and equipment, they can influence their families, friends and even their communities – whether to do better school food, reduce food waste, or spread awareness about healthy food. Finally, learning to eat well is not just about food. This is about helping children to take care of their health, understand their culture, respect the planet and develop in thoughtful, responsible citizens. In the world facing double burden of under-nutrition and overlapping, climate change and cultural loss, food literacy is no longer a luxury-it is necessary.
If we want to raise a generation who is healthy, more kind and better for the future, then we should start learning to eat a part of every child starting today.
Pawan Agarwal is the founder-CEO, Food Future Foundation and former CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
Published – 26 April, 2025 12:16 AM IST