UNICEF sounds alarm over childhood obesity; can CBSE’s ‘sugar board’ mandate help ease the crisis?

If you still haven’t been keeping a tab on your child’s sugar, salt and processed food intake, now is the time to hit the start button. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself spearheading a robust awareness campaign about the health benefits of millets, it seems not much has changed on the ground level. Statistics indicate that nutritional imbalance among children is still a major concern. Meanwhile, easily accessible and aggressively marketed snacks and beverages are leading to more and more youngsters falling victim to lifestyle diseases. According to UNICEF’s latest child nutrition report, titled ‘Feeding Profit: How food environments are failing children’, ‘unhealthy food environments are contributing to the worldwide surge in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents’.

Blame the profit-driven FMCG companies’ marketing gimmicks or the lack of adequate legal protection, unhealthy food environments are posing a serious threat to communities worldwide and the latest UNICEF report further testify to that. In South Asia, the problem seems to have intensified since 2000 with the number of overweight youngsters in the age group of 5-19 rising fivefold to a whopping 70 million. Interestingly, undernutrition and anemia also remain highly prevalent in the region around the same time. 

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To counter the concerning surge in Type 2 diabetes among children, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) directed affiliated schools across the country to set up ‘sugar boards’ to monitor and reduce kid’s sugar consumption. In a letter to principals, CBSE stated, “This alarming trend is largely attributed to high sugar intake, often due to the easy availability of sugary snacks, beverages and processed foods within school environments. The excessive consumption of sugar not only increases the risk of diabetes but also contributes to obesity, dental problems and other metabolic disorders, ultimately impacting children’s long-term health and academic performance.” 

There are over 100 Orchids The International School campuses across the country, and we attach a lot of significance to the nutritional needs of students when it comes to the school lunch plate. While actioning CBSE’s ‘sugar board’ directive, our approach combined the tenets of raising awareness, student engagement and parental involvement. Apart from installing sugar boards displaying healthy eating posters, interactive activities are also organised as part of a comprehensive ‘Sugar Awareness’ initiative at Orchids. “Setting up the sugar board is just the first step. We’re involving students, parents and even doctors in the learning process,” National Academic Head Naresh Ramamurthy told The Hindu.

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Over the years, Orchids has implemented a series of structured, health-centred initiatives. These include:

• Balanced School Meals: Orchids’ special meal programme meets around 70% of a child’s daily nutritional needs, offering a carefully curated mix of macro and micronutrients with minimal use of processed sugars.

• Smart Beverage Options: The school serves ‘Waterfull’, a premium flavoured water with 80% less sugar than conventional drinks, promoting hydration without high sugar intake.

• Farm-to-Plate Model: As India’s first school group to integrate hydroponic and polyhouse farming, students grow vegetables used in their own meals - reinforcing sustainability and nutrition.

• Food Education Modules: Through projects, classroom discussions and culinary sessions, students gain critical knowledge on healthy eating habits.

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Giving an insight into the ‘Sugar Awareness’ initiative, Culinary Head Vijay Sreedhar said, “At Orchids, we believe that the classroom extends all the way to the cafeteria. Nutrition isn’t an add-on, it’s an essential part of learning. CBSE’s sugar board mandate validates the importance of what we’ve been championing for years: helping children understand what’s on their plate, and why it matters. By integrating farm-to-plate experiences, balanced nutritional meals and now structured sugar awareness tools, we’re not just reducing sugar, but raising consciousness. Our goal is to nurture a generation that doesn’t just eat healthy, but thinks healthy.”

When it comes to raising awareness about the nutritional benefits of millets, Orchids hosted a special workshop at its Hinjewadi campus in Pune last year. The goal was to educate students on the different varieties of the superfood, and why it’s a healthy alternative to processed food.