‘Green school’ initiative to help Tamil kids in SL overcome food crisis

CHENNAI: In order to overcome food insecurity in a sustainable manner, a new initiative called 'The Green school, Green Revolution” was launched to help Eelam Tamil Children combat malnourishment caused by food crisis in Sri Lanka.

Nutritionist Divya Sathyaraj, daughter of actor Sathyaraj, and Sri Lankan Tamil Activist, founder and President of Serendip, Be The Change Foundation (SBTCF) Poongkothai Chandrahasan, have come together for this initiative as Sri Lanka has been facing a humanitarian crisis compounded by food insecurity & threatened livelihoods.

“The Green School, Green Revolution” initiative is a sustainable way to provide nutrition to children in Schools and preschools. Organic Gardens are set up at schools and weekly organic cultivation practical training will be given to the school students.

As per the current observation, children are the worst affected with 2.3 million children in need of humanitarian assistance and 56,000 children under 5 years with severe acute malnutrition needing urgent treatment. The SBTCF was approached by Divisional Officer of Delft Island for assistance and after the assessment, the initiative was planned to be implemented.

Poongkothai Chandrahasan, founder and President of Serendip, Be The Change Foundation in Sri Lanka states, “Government School staff are reaching out to us, saying children are fainting from hunger in school. Some students are coming to school on Monday morning, having had only tea from Friday to Sunday, because their family couldn’t buy food. Teachers have taken to bringing extra food to share with the children, hoping to induce the parents to send the children to school, as an alarming number of children are dropping out of school."

She added that Eelam Tamils have not been granted any form of autonomous governance, and pandemic worsened the economic crisis. "The organic fruits & vegetables grown in the school garden will be used in the school nutrition kitchen, which we set up, or renovate, to provide meals for the vulnerable school children. Also, the student ‘farm-treprenuers cooperative can sell the surplus vegetables and use that money to sustain their gardens, thereby reducing their dependence on further funding," she said.

Divya Sathyaraj, founder of Mahilmadhi Movement said, “As a nutritionist I strongly believe that lack of sufficient nutrition in the early years of a child's life can lead to a lot of health problems when the child grows up. Children who are malnourished will not have the ability to fulfil their cognitive potential and will also suffer from poor immunity.”