Editorial: Ban sugar in school cafeterias

In our latest feeble swipe at sugar, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its 24,000 affiliated schools to set up display boards containing information on the risks of consuming too much of the stuff. It’s what every parent tells his or her children. Why, even the Prime Minister endorsed it in his Mann ki Baat last Sunday.

But why are our school boards busying themselves with the kind of classroom project teachers routinely make their pupils do when graver learning issues ought to be occupying their mindspace? As the Annual Status of Education (ASER) surveys point out, learning outcomes continue to be poor and uneven across the country, with most students unable to meet the benchmarks set for lower classes.

Less than 50 per cent of Class 8 students in rural India can do simple division. Despite three years of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) mission, more than 50 per cent of Standard 5 children cannot read a Standard 2-level text. On the facilities side, more than 25 per cent of schools in rural India still have no usable toilet for girls; half of them have no functional library.

Of course, public health issues arising from sugar should figure in our education, but as part of structured curricula, taught with rigour and evidence, much like we approach phenomena like drug abuse, migration, or mental health. But it is pointless to have a go at sugar as classroom advocacy, while lax food regulation leaves open huge loopholes for it to proliferate. Sugar is a public health issue, not a knowledge problem. The solution to it lies in tough regulation; hallway display boards won’t cut it.

The real battle against sugar will be won by fixing our food standards. If the government is serious about curbing the menace, it should start with real accountability in food regulation.

India is the largest consumer of sugar in the world (28 million tonnes a year) and has the highest population of diabetics (212 million). Lax regulation allows unhealthy sugar use in countless products, often disguised under multiple names: maltose, fructose, glucose syrup, corn syrup, etc. Product labelling remains confusing and misleading.

India has no legal upper limit on added sugar in beverages marketed to children. One can of cola (330 ml) contains roughly 35 g of sugar, which is more than 140% of a child’s recommended daily intake as per WHO guidelines.

Food companies exploit loopholes and aggressively market sugar-rich foods to children. Cereal boxes, snack bars, and ‘health drinks’ claim to be fortified with vitamins but are often loaded with more sugar than a dessert. Yet, there is no accountability for food companies.

If CBSE truly wants to contribute, it must begin by cleaning up its own backyard. Across India, school cafeterias serve junk food to children: carbonated drinks, white bread, starch-heavy noodles, fried snacks, and artificially flavoured drinks.

If the CBSE wants to make an impact, it should ban the sale of sugary foods in school cafeterias, as recommended in FSSAI's 2019 draft guidelines. It must audit school canteens for compliance, and penalise schools that permit sugar-sweetened beverages and packaged sweets on their premises.

Lecturing children about sugar, while schools profit from sugar-laden cafeterias, is not just hypocrisy — it’s betrayal.