Some weeks ago a headline, ‘Classroom Hunger’ in The Hindu caught my eye. I cannot honestly remember what it was about but it triggered a long forgotten memory. The director of a known school in the city invited me to address the parents of her primary school children. She asked me to highlight the importance of breakfast in particular. I was taken aback by her request. I thought she would ask me to talk about discipline or importance of doing homework but breakfast! According to her, a large number of children come to school on an empty stomach. I could understand such a problem with children who come from low socio-economic background. But children who came to her school were from financially well-to-do families.
She also voiced her concern about those children who were given money by the parents to buy something to eat on the way. She was worried not only about using money as proxy for food but also hygiene and absence of nutrients in the street food or packed munchies. She wondered how it would affect their immune system.
Having worked as a teacher, both in private and government schools, I have seen the impact of hunger on children. When a child comes to school on an empty stomach, it affects his ability to stay alert and be focused on a given task resulting in failure to absorb information. His thinking and reasoning skills are also at risk.
He may have mood swings resulting in either passive or aggressive behaviour. Hunger takes its toll on his literacy and numeracy skills too. This causes him to fall further and further behind in studies. This lack of academic progress often leads to early drop out.
Sometimes, a single child’s behaviour can affect the overall learning atmosphere in the classroom. Neither does he learn nor does he allow the other children to learn. I remember a seven-year-old girl who entered the classroom crying every single day of the week. She would throw a tantrum if anyone tried to hold her or stop her from crying. When she was brought to me I found that the poor child cried because she was hungry, her own words were ‘my stomach hurts”. Her mother, a professional did not have much time to make her have breakfast. She packed it instead and asked her to eat in school.
I have seen children who feel drowsy; they lack the energy to pay attention to day-long activities in school – be it classroom learning, social interactions and outdoor games.
As I tried to understand why this happens, the teachers informed me that in most households, children along with their parents stay up late watching TV. They get up late in the morning. The parent does not have enough time to prepare a nutritious breakfast or the child may not have the time to eat. Another reason cited was smart phone. Almost every third child in the school had a cell phone. The children stayed up late using social media. Getting up in the morning became an unpleasant chore. They get up just in time to arrive in school on time. And this happens at the expense of breakfast!
Dieticians, world over, have time and again stressed on the importance of eating something nutritious each morning. It provides children with higher levels of energy, improves their immune system and this in turn betters their performance in class and improves physical endurance.
Do think before you skip breakfast.
(The writer is a Remedial Educator)
