Students vow to eat healthy

Students vowed to eat nutritious food in order to develop themselves as healthy citizens of the country at a programme in Gazipur on Sunday.

Students of Muslin Cotton Mills High School in Kaliganj upazila pledged to 'eat well and live well' at the programme titled 'Bhalo Khabo Bhalo  Thakbo' held on the school premises. The students took an oath to use their tiffin money to buy nutritious snacks.

According to a Food Safety Net Services (FSNS) report published in 2015, 36 percent  children (aged 10-18 years) in the country are suffering from  malnutrition while seven percent children have obesity.

Addressing the event, speakers said adolescents are buying poor  quality snack foods that do not make for good health. All concerned should work together to change the way food is  produced, manufactured and sold, so that better quality food is available for students, they observed.

The speakers also called for the creation of an environment that encourages improvement of adolescent nutrition.

Under the 'Bhalo Khabo Bhalo Thakbo' project, jointly  implemented by GAIN and Shornokishoree Network Foundation, over four  lakh students from 1,000 schools across the country have taken the pledge in  the last one year.

Nure Zannat, upazila secondary education officer, attended the  programme as chief guest, while Tapos Kumar Das, head master of the  High School, chaired the event.