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Please stop Iron Disaster in Indian Schools




While reports have come from time to time of Indian children falling sick due to poor midday meals in schools an even worse thing is happening – children falling sick from iron supplements forced on them in schools. Reports of this appear in newspapers from time to time including one today in Rajasthan. For example see

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-school-kids-fall-sick-after-consuming-iron-supplements/1/291877.html

One wonders what is the idea or scam behind this horrible idea. There are much easier, cheaper and healthier ways to provide iron supplements. There is a need to put an end to this scam immediately even if some public officials are extracting bribes from the manufacturer.

Two of the simple natural methods of providing iron are

1. Include spinach and other leafy vegetables in school meals. Spinach finely chopped can be mixed in school dal however spinach needs to be washed thoroughly to remove dirt and pesticide residues and this may not be possible in schools given their record. Spinach fortified biscuits made by a reputed manufacturer is a safer idea. See this for OFR biscuits.

2. The lucky Iron fish method

The lucky Iron fish method is the cheapest way to make up for iron deficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_iron_fish

To quote from Wikipedia,

Lucky iron fish are fish-shaped cast iron ingots used to provide dietary supplementation of iron to individuals living in poverty affected by iron-deficiency anaemia. The ingots are placed in a pot of boiling water to leach elemental iron into the water and food. They were developed in 2008 by Canadian health workers in Cambodia, and in 2012 a company, The Lucky Iron Fish Project, was formed to develop the iron fish on a larger scale, promote them among rural areas, and distribute them to non-governmental organization partners.

Care must be taken in production of these fish that the iron does not contain any other trace metals as impurity such as lead that may harm over the long term. In order to perpetuate this method school children may be given an iron fish each along with instructions for use at home, either the children or in a joint meeting of children and parents so that the parents especially pregnant mothers benefit too and the government saves money and children school study time wasted on a futile exercise that is making many sick.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:School_children_in_Hyderabad,_India.JPG
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