The Government will consider a complete ban on processed and sugary food and drinks in schools, says Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Lynda Tabuya.
Ms Tabuya said this was something she would push for as the National Early Childhood Development (ECD) Policy 2024-2028 has been unveiled.
One of the areas of concern listed in the policy is access to proper nutrition, as children are more susceptible to contracting non-communicable diseases (NCDs) due to their diets from a younger age.
Ms Tabuya said there was a need for children to eat better food than what they were being fed right now.
“So, we’d like to see that in school, that there is a complete ban on soda, that there is a complete ban on sweet, sugary foods, even donuts and babakau and roti and things like that,” she said.
“They’re very full of sugar and processed foods.
“We need to take the food back and nutrition in schools, back to the garden, back to organic produce and fruit and drinking lots of water, because this helps a developing brain. I’d like to see that as well.
“Through this policy, I will be working with my colleagues to ensure that these policies are implemented.”
Ms Tabuya also lauded the roll-out of the policy and said this would work in tandem with the Child Care and Protect Act and Child Justice Act, which was passed in Parliament last week.
She said the Government was working hard to prioritise children and being proactive rather than reactive.
“We need to see more protection of children, which means children need to be monitored and supervised more at that age.
“Part of this policy is that the involvement of parents and families is crucial because we also need to resource and build the capacity of parents to be good parents.
“Nobody teaches you how to be a parent, but this policy ensures that parents and families are part of the development of a child, that they are engaged as well through the activities that are planned under this policy.
“That they are also taught and guided on positive parenting, on positive discipline, on using words to dialogue, to engage with children in order to help them to develop optimally and that’s another area I think that is important.”
