At the Panchayat Union Primary School located at Vettaikaranpudur near Pollachi, a group of 25 children were staying behind even though nearly an hour had passed since the school closed for the day.
They were most happy to stay late as they were engaged in full-filled sports activity. The children used a football to play novel games.
Beside the fun aspect, which is a major goal, the programme is part of a national project supported by a multinational firm and two non-government organisations to improve the health of children.
The young girl who was training them was one of the 63 trained mentors hired under ‘Shubh Aarambh’ initiative who make sports a fun-filled activity so that it is attractive for the students of government schools.
A three-year project that began last year, ‘Shubh Aarambh’ was taken up by Mondelez International, a United States-based confectionary company, in partnership with Magic Bus India Foundation, an NGO that works in child development and Save the Children, an international NGO that promotes children’s rights.
Vinay Kaushik, Communication Coordinator, Save the Children, explains that the project takes a three-pronged approach to child development. Its primary focus is increasing awareness in the community about healthy lifestyle and nutrition.
It supplements this objective by encouraging children to take up to sports. Further, it lends support to the rural households to set up kitchen gardens to grow fresh vegetables.
Towards this, he says they are working in nine villages at Anamalai, six at Vettaikaranpudur, eight at Kottur and ten at Kaliapuram. In these 33 villages, the project covers a population of 61,646 of which 3,665 were children below five years, 194 were pregnant women besides 648 lactating mothers.
The first of three pillars of this project, he says, is ‘Active Play,’ in which children are encouraged to take to sports as a way to stay healthy. It is under way in 41 government schools covering nearly 2,500 students.
The organisation is converting playgrounds in ten government schools into ‘child-friendly’ ones. Further, demonstrations of these activities are also held in village communities to encourage elders to take to sports.
The second part is creating awareness in local community. They work closely with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a Central Government-sponsored social welfare scheme, which run the Anganwadis.
Awareness programmes on healthy and nutritious food are held for pregnant women and lactating mothers who come to the Anganwadis.
The final pillar is helping the community grow their own health food through kitchen gardens, he adds.
A multinational company ties up
with two NGOs
to implement
‘Shubh Aarambh’
