UP schools to ban sale of junk food

In a significant step, the Uttar Pradesh government has issued instructions to all schools - Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), Uttar Pradesh Board and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) - to ban sale of junk food within their premises and outside, an official said on Thursday.

A senior government official told IANS the move was initiated by the Secondary Education Council, after it got instructions for the same from the Union Health and Family Planning Ministry.

In a letter addressed to principals of all schools, the Secretary of the UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (Board of High School and Intermediate Education) asked to ban sale of all forms of junk food, carbonated cold drinks and high sugar containing food from their campuses, as these lead to a host of diseases at later stage of life, including diabetes, high blood pressure and piled up cholesterol levels.

The communique specifically mentioned the high trans-fat levels in foods sold in different forms like wafers, salted and fried items.

The official letter has encouraged school managements to promote healthy and nutritious food amongst school going kids.

The letter also warned strict action against the district inspector of schools (DIOS) of that area, if the orders were not implemented.

Manage your mind during Board exams - QnA

It's time once again for studies, late night note making, early morning revisions and quick tricks to grasp well. No matter how hard you study through the year, with boards around there is a different sense of urgency.

Psychologist, Ms Gomti Dittakavi, spoke to us about how students can tackle their mind while preparing through boards.

Q. How should students look at board exams? What is the right approach to perform well and to reduce stress?

Ans. Students shouldn't see board exams as havoc; they should look at it like any other exam. Take it easy or you could spoil what you have prepared for. Teachers and parents should exactly know what their child is doing.

Q. How can parent support their children at this time?

Ans. Basically there is 3 types of examination:

• State board exams
• CBSE
• ICSE

The Pattern of evaluation of all the three boards is different. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has designed a unique curriculum and systematic evaluation pattern. CBSE evaluation pattern and designing of indicators is not very well promoted in all the schools. Teachers don't know how to mark the indicators and what are the parameters especially in the subjects like Physics and Maths is a language of numbers.

If the parents and teachers understand the conceptual learning rather than the mechanical learning then the last minute hiccups can be avoided.

Q. Can spirituality help students?

Ans. Meditation always helps in learning. One should start his/her day with meditation at least for 20 minutes. It releases huge amount of stress and helps the learning process. It also makes you feel afresh.

Believe in god, pray regularly, and work hard work. Meditation will help you channelize your energies better.

Q. Is it a good idea to study in groups?

Ans. I personally encourage studying in groups as well as independent studies. Three days independent study and rest three days should be a group study. Half of the day's students should study alone and discuss it with friends. In this way, you would be able to clear you concepts.

Q. Is the pressure on students more due to the huge course or is it that we are not able to train them well during the whole year?

Ans. This is the basic reason. We are not able to guide them right from the beginning of the academic year. The curriculum is divided into chunks and each chunk is revised during the UTs, half yearly exams, and annual exams. Students start mugging up the questions without understanding the basic concept. In this case, student wouldn't be able to write the answer in a proper manner because when he'll try to recall the things, nothing will be in his/her mind because he/she has not understood the basic concept.

Q. Last minute study tips to students

• Reading and writing the challenging chapters will help. Identify keywords to make learning process easier.
• Don't try to go after chapters you have not studied thought the year. Last minute mugging won't help.
• Most importantly, don't study on the last day. Don't tire yourself too much before the exam. Take care of food and sleep
• Don't discuss your answers with friends on the last day
• Do some meditation and let the thoughts flow

Gomti is a Psychologist and PG in Physics, Psychology, and education. She has years of experience in the field of education, research, and training.

Outdoor games, exercise keep teens healthy and fit

Blame it on the effects of increasing academic pressure or the influence of television and video games, the cheering and screaming of children at neighbourhood playgrounds can no longer be heard today. Lack of physical activity has taken a toll on the health of growing children, especially teenagers. "The teens these days are extremely unfit. One of the main reasons for this being that most of them have grown up indoors and hardly played the run-around kind of games,'' says Puran Soni, manager of Talwarkar Fitness Centre at Vaishali Nagar.

Pediatrician Dr Rambabu Sharma doesn't recommend gymming for pre-teens. "Adolescents going towards adulthood can work out in gyms. But, it should be done in a graded manner under proper guidance. Heavy
weight lifting could have an adverse effect on the body, and may lead to catabolism. In spite of aerobic metabolism, youngsters may develop anaerobic metabolism, under which lactic acid accumulates in the
muscles, which is not good for the body." Lack of open spaces in the neighbourhood too, is one of the reasons for children taking to gymming or dancing at aerobic classes.

"Until a couple of years ago, I used to force my now 13-year-old daughter to go to the local park in the evenings. However, now she and her friends do not feel comfortable hanging out there. So, they prefer to spend time in the building compound chatting rather than playing games,"says Madhu Solanki, a resident of Chirtakoot area. The change in lifestyle has brought in a major change in the eating habits of children, making them all the more unfit. Senior dietician Rahat Bano says teenagers should not worry about calories but rather try and have nutritious food. "Increasing number of teens seem to have digestion problems or are obese and hence follow food restrictions.

For both the disorders, lack of physical activity can be blamed," she says. "The onset of adult diseases from childhood is a dangerous trend. Now, there are children who are coming to hospitals with coronary artillery
disease, obesity, diabetes type II (which is common in adults) and other respiratory problems. Children should follow good eating habits and take time out for physical exercises," suggests Dr S D Sharma, superintendent at J K Lon Hospital, a child speciality centre.