The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-The Hindu Project Sampoorna’s success in reducing child malnutrition is a model that can be easily implemented anywhere ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’. This statement is often attributed to Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, and quite literally sums up Project Sampoorna which was conceptualised and successfully implemented in Bongaigaon district of Assam. An interlink The project has resulted in the reduction of malnutrition in children using near zero economic...

-The Hindu ‘It can’t be a business as usual approach’ As almost 26 crore children return to physical classes after 18 months of school closures, a business as usual approach will lead to a deepening of existing educational inequity, warned the National Coalition on the Education Emergency in a report released online on Tuesday. The NCEE cited data from the recent SCHOOL survey conducted in 15 States, which showed that 72% of elementary...

-Press release by National Coalition on the Education Emergency dated 2nd November, 2021 * India’s 250 million children returning to school after 18 months of school closures and devastating learning loss * The NCEE warns that re-opening schools cannot be “return to school” as normal, and lack of a comprehensive approach will deepen the existing education inequality * Education recovery efforts require a multi-year, radically new approach, NCEE says NEW DELHI: The overwhelming majority...

-The Hindu COVID-19 or otherwise, educational institutions need to ensure that schoolchildren are nurtured and nourished With COVID-19 cases reducing in the country, several establishments, including schools, are opening again. While the reopening of all schools is on the anvil, the festive season ahead and the fact that children are not yet in the ambit of the vaccination drive are causing apprehension. We, as a society, must focus on the nutrition of...