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| English: Group of children in a primary school in Paris Español: Niños en una escuela elemental en París Français : Enfants dans une école élémentaire à Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Joseph of Tondo is 10 and entering sixth grade this school year. Lately, he’s had trouble with schoolwork; his grades were 76 percent in Math and 75 percent in English. He’s also become inattentive and unable to concentrate.
Mariquita Montoya Moreno, a nutritionist at the Don Bosco Tondo Feeding Center who has observed Joseph, said his case is not unique. Many other children his age are doing just badly as he is.
The Department of Education recently reported dismal results for the 1,560,262 sixth graders from public schools who took the National Achievement Test (NAT) in the school year 2005-2006.
The test is designed to assess the abilities and skills of Grade VI pupils in the five subject areas: English, Filipino, Science, HEKASI, and mathematics.
In 2005-2006, the average sixthe grade public school student who took the NAT scored poorly in Math (53.66 percent), English (46.77percent), and Science (54.05 percent).
What’s worse, the percentage of correctly answered items dropped by four percent, from 58.73 percent in SY 2004-2005 to 54.66 percent in SY 2005-2006.
Test scores are dropping and we have to ask ourselves. What is causing children to perform this poorly?
The silent threat
One of the major factors that affect school performance is nutrition. Moreno worries about the diet of children these days. She says that one of the major reasons is the inadequate nutrition children receive these days, and the lack of vegetables in their diets.
One of the major factors that affect school performance is nutrition. Moreno worries about the diet of children these days. She says that one of the major reasons is the inadequate nutrition children receive these days, and the lack of vegetables in their diets.
Studies show that a child’s diet can influence how well he or she does in school, because good nutrition helps improve attentiveness, increase energy levels, and augments the brain processes that affect learning.
If a child’s diet is not balanced and has too much junk food and sugar in it, he or she will miss out on the micronutrients that affect the brain development and learning.
What are micronutrients? According to the World Health Organization, they "enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances essential for proper growth and development."
Two of the most important micronutrients are vitamin A and iron; should children lack even the slightest of either of them, their health is seriously threatened.
Though micronutrient deficiencies like Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA-a lack of iron) and Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD-lack of vitamin A) are common, few known that the symptoms – lethargy, weakness, a reduced ability to learn, and tendency to be easily exhausted – can be traced to lack of food – particularly vegetables – that provide micronutrients in a child’s diet.
Hence a poor diet can lead to problems with learning.
Poor diet, poor performance
Children tend to eat what they like, and parents prefer to prepare what’s easy to cook.
Children tend to eat what they like, and parents prefer to prepare what’s easy to cook.
Many kids simply dislike eating vegetables, usually because of the taste. It seems normal, but beware: Feeding children only what they want often results in their having diets that lack healthy food, particularly vegetables, which are among the rich resources of micronutrients.
Children with these kinds of diets perform poorly in school because they suffer from inattentiveness, the inability to concentrate, learning problems, and weak immune systems. If a child is like this, he or she isn’t necessarily lazy or dumb – these could be signs of IDA and VAD.
The sixth National Nutrition Surveys (NNS) study shows that the average child aged six months to five years consumes only 25 grams of vegetables a day, which is only half the recommended daily amount.
A cup for health and learning
This problem can be easily remedied. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) encourages the consumption of "more vegetables, fruits and root crops to help correct the micronutrient deficiencies.
This problem can be easily remedied. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) encourages the consumption of "more vegetables, fruits and root crops to help correct the micronutrient deficiencies.
One cup or 90 grams of vegetables like ampalaya, okra, and squash can go a long way towards ensuring better health and, as a consequence of the improved micronutrient intake, better school performance for children aged six to 12; half a serving or 45 grams is all children below six need to reap the same benefits.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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