Nestlé expands school nutrition programme

October 05, 2015 | 06:38

(0) user say

Nestlé Vietnam – part of Nestlé, a world leading food and beverage company headquartered in Switzerland – signed a co-operative deal last week with Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training for continuing Nestlé Healthy Kids, a school-oriented nutrition programme, for the 2015–2016 period.

Making its debut in 2012, the programme, with support from the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Nestlé Vietnam, has been effectively implemented in 18 primary schools of five cities and provinces nationwide.

For the ongoing 2015–2016 school year, Nestlé Vietnam, in tandem with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), will expand support to more primary schools, especially those located in the central regions. Accordingly, 15 schools in the central city of Danang, Lam Dong, and Daklak provinces (five schools in each location) with 15,000 pupils have become programme beneficiaries.

Of them, Nestlé Vietnam will support six schools in building computer rooms, whereas nine other schools that already have computer rooms will receive software, education materials, and learning tools related to nutritional knowledge. This will help boost the number of school-age children with access to information about nutrition and health to 25,000, from 33 primary schools nationwide.

The programme’s primary goal is to provide nutritional knowledge and practice for school-age children through interesting interactive learning approaches. The expert teams from NIN and Nestlé Vietnam has developed specific software on nutritional education and interactive games at the website to inspire kids, parents, and teachers to translate this new information about nutrition into their daily practice.

Every year, children joining the progamme will be tested on their nutritional knowledge and have their Body Mass Index (BMI) measured. To date, all the children have posted satisfactory test results, and 30 per cent of them reported a remarkably improved BMI.

Deputy head of the MoET’s Primary Education Department Tran Thi Tham said, “We appreciate the initiative of Nestlé Vietnam and NIN to improve children’s nutritional knowledge. The MoET expects the programme will further reach children in rural and remote areas in upcoming years, enabling them to grasp better information about nutrition for the overall target of enhancing the physical strength and intellect of young Vietnamese generations.”