Nestlé S.A. CEO Mr. Paul Bulcke recently inaugurated the Nestlé Healthy Kids (NHK) Room at the Harbanspura school being operated by Trust for Education and Development of Deserving Students (TEDDS).
The Nestlé CEO – during his short visit to Pakistan– also met the children who have been through the NHK Programme. During his visit to the school, Mr. Bulcke was accompanied by Mr. Nandu Nandkishore, Nestlé S.A. Executive Vice President and head of Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa; Mr. Magdi Batato, the Nestlé Pakistan Managing Director; and members of the board of directors of TEDDS.
The NHK Room has been designed and funded by the company under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which it had signed with TEDDS in April. The MoU was part of the global NHK Programme under which Nestlé, the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness (NHW) Company, pledged to introduce healthy lifestyle lessons on all aspects of healthy eating, nutrition, and physical activity – to students aged 6 to 16 – through a curriculum-based initiative. Nestlé plans on replicating the design of the NHK Room in all other partner schools.
The company has also trained the school’s teachers about how to teach the curriculum specially developed for the programme. TEDDS, which has more than 5,000 children enrolled at its various campuses, has already taught the curriculum to one batch of its students over the summer.
Mr. Bulcke and Mr. Nandkishore asked the children questions about macro and micro-nutrients and talked about the importance of a healthy and balanced diet and physical activity.
Mr. Bulcke said about his visit to the school, “NHK is part of our commitment to develop knowledge leadership in children’s nutrition. A big part of that is our belief in nutritional education, which should start in school. We want to make the children mindful of the importance of eating right and engaging in physical activity. After meeting these children and based on the feedback from the school administration, I am heartened by the changes both the teachers and children have made in their lives after going through this programme.” .
Mr. Muhammad Farooq Naseem, TEDDS President, said that the school was doing all that it could to encourage healthy eating habits and physical activity. “Now that the children know what nutrition and healthy foods are, we realize that the next step is to make sure that they do not forget about what they have learned.” The school conducts regular activities like Healthy School Lunch Competitions and Poster Competitions to motivate children to bring healthy, home-made lunch.
Malaika Shabbir, 14, says that she has learnt to be conscious about the portions of food. 11-year old Mahnoor Nasir says that since participating in the NHK Programme, she has started eating vegetables. “I didn’t like vegetables,” she says, “but now I know how important they are for a healthy diet. So I have started eating veggies now”
About Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme:
Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme was launched in Pakistan in 2010. At present, the programme is being taught in schools managed by Care Foundation, Silver Oaks and TEDDS. The aim of the programme is to educate and create awareness about the nutritional needs among school-going children. Pakistan is one of the three countries where half of the world’s malnourished children are found. Between 2010 and 2013, NHK Programme trained 50,000 children in 30 schools along with 100 teachers and 100 mothers. During 2014-2015, the programme will reach another 25,000 students. Nestlé will engage with institutions in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh in order to further expand the reach of the programme.
TEDDS (Trust for Education and Development of Deserving Students) came in to existence in 1993 as a non-commercial welfare trust with the objective of disseminating quality education to the underprivileged. TEDDS is a Lahore based school system having 11 schools in Lahore district with around 5,000 students.
For more information, please contact:
Aatekah Mir-Khan | |
Corporate Media Relations Manager, Nestlé Pakistan | |
Phone: 042-35988119 | |
Email: [email protected] |
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