What is Sugar Boards? CBSE’s new initiative to reduce diabetes risk in children, will it work?

Cases of obesity and risk of diabetes have been rising among school students due to their wrong food habits like eating junk foods, frozen, fried and so on. As this is both alarming and concerning, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a remarkable initiative to improve the eating habits of children. The education board thus started Sugar Boards across the country’s schools. This is an educational step through which the students would be aware of excess sugar, cultivate healthier habits, to lessen the impact of lifestyle diseases in the coming generation. 

This programme has been adopted amid statistical data suggesting higher consumption of sugar in children, more than recommended. The new CBSE guidelines have referred to many health studies. These studies reveal that children between the age of 4 and 10 years get 13% of their daily dose of calories from sugar, and those between the age of 11 to 18 consume even higher, as much as 15%. The World Health Organization has recommended a limit of 5% of daily sugar dose.  

As part of this new CBSE initiative, schools would need to install Sugar Boards, which are visually interactive displays installed in a planned way in the campuses countrywide to make students aware of the unfavourable effects of excessive consumption of sugar. 

These boards are visually attractive and educational which take the help of pictures, infographics, fun facts, and even real-world scenarios to help students understand at their level the risks of high-sugar diets. To make the education more engaging they demonstrate through the use of quizzes, student-contributed health tips, and QR codes linking to short videos or games. 

While schools have a big responsibility to bring change, according to experts, parents and communities would also have to contribute and play an active role in inculcating change among children. Regularly making children aware and educating them about the consequences can the change happen. Everybody, from parents to schools to communities have to actively support this initiative.