By Grace Udofia
To prevent childhood malnutrition among children, Kaduna State, one of Nigeria’s 36 states, has embarked on intensive training for teachers of Early Child Care Development Centres (ECCD) on mainstreaming nutrition.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Yusuf Saleh, disclosed this during the opening of the two-day training on Wednesday in Kaduna.
Saleh explained that the step taken by the Kaduna State Government is to prevent childhood malnutrition among children in the state.
Deputy Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Munkaila Usman who spoke on behalf of Saleh, said the training was supported by the Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan (KADENAP).
He explained that the training is critical, considering the relationship between nutrition and development, stressing that pre-school children need adequate nutrition for good development.
He said, “This training is in response to the implementation of the education sector nutrition-sensitive interventions such as food and nutrition security and nutrition education.
“Others are school feeding to improve nutritional status, learning capacities and retention, establishment of school gardens to provide food items and stimulate interest in farming among children.
“We equally have the responsibility of enhancing caregivers’ capacity in line with the provision of the Kaduna State Policy on Food and Nutrition”.
