Comparative assessment of nutritional status of school comparative assessment of nutritional status of school going children (7-12 years) from government schools in rural and urban Hisar
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Date
2023-01
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CCSHAU, Hisar
Abstract
The present study was conducted between November, 2020 to April, 2021 on school going children (7-12 years,n= 240) from urban government and rural government schools of Hisar city to compare their nutritional status. Results reveal that majority belonged to schedule caste category (40.00%) were pure-vegetarian (51.25%) and belonged from nuclear familles (69.58%). Mothers (77.08%) of most of the respondents were uneducated and fathers (45.83%) were educated upto middle. The majority of respondents fathers (25.41%) were engaged in agriculture and majority (73.33%) of respondents mothers were housewives. The average monthly family income of majority of family (69.16%) was between Rs. 10,001 to 20,000. In total, the respondents from rural government school school were significantly (p<0.05) heavier with comparable height to urban government school going children. Also, the rural government school respondents had a significantly (p<0.05) higher BMI, waist and hip circumference as compared to those from urban government school. The male respondents were significantly (p<0.05) taller and heavier to females. Malnutrition was evident with majority being under weight. Daily mean intake of cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers, other vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products, sugar and jiggery, and fats and oils was significantly (p<0.05) lower than their respective RDIs in the daily diets of school going children of both the age group (7-9 years and 10-12years). The school going children belonging to rural government schools had significantly (p<0.05) higher consumption of cereals, pulses, other vegetables, milk and milk products, fats and oils, sugar and jaggery than the school going children of urban government schools. The daily mean intake of energy, protein, fat, calcium, iron, vitamin B₁, vitamin B2, and vitamin C which were found to be significantly (p<0.05) lower than their respective RDA in the daily diet of majority of school going children. The daily mean intake of various nutrients of the school going children from rural government school was significantly (p<0.05) higher than those from urban government schools. Furthermore, the nutrient intake iron, calcium and vitamin C of male was significantly (p0.05) higher than the females. Adequacy ratio for all nutrients except fat was below 75 per cent of RDA in majority of school going children from both urban and rural government schools. A significant (p<0.05) impact on the gain of nutrition knowledge was reported after imparting the nutrition education. It may be concluded that food and nutrient intake of school going children from both genders and both school categories were below the respectively RDI/RDA standards prescribed by ICMR (2020) for Indian school going children.