My First Skool Food and Nutrition Programme – Feeding Mind, Body and Soul

Thursday, 3 June 2021

A child’s nutrition is important to a child’s growth and development in their early years. Child malnutrition is a deficiency disease that occurs when there is inadequate nutrition. According to data collected from the Health Promotion Board in 2017, 7.6% of Singaporean children in K1 and 2 are underweight and severely underweight. This is detrimental to a child’s education and development. Malnutrition in a child causes them to be lethargic and dread going to school. The impending effect of this is that it adversely affects a child’s cognitive development and academic performance.

According to statistics, about 1 in 10 families in Singapore live in poverty today. Many of them face difficulties providing their children with proper nutrition. With the current pandemic and increase in retrenchment, this issue is definitely an increasing concern.

NTUC First Campus (NFC) sympathised with this issue and recently came up with a ‘Food and Nutrition Programme’. This is to support approximately 2,500 low-income families to care for them especially during these difficult times. They always believe that ‘it is in their best interest to care for the needs of the families and put them at the core of what they do’. They are committed to ‘ensure that every child has a good start’. Thus providing aid to help these low-income families to provide good nutrition to their children.

How will beneficiaries benefit from this programme? They will receive a specially curated food package containing items such as fruits and vegetables. A Kopitiam card will also be provided for them to have the opportunity to dine out. Besides the food pack, health and nutrition workshops will be conducted along with other resources to help support these families. Similar to what Lao Tzu said, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’. Through these workshops, it will inculcate knowledge to the parents to be informed about the nutritional value of the food that they consume.

Testimonial from beneficiary – Mdm Lisa and Chloe (not their real name)

‘Mdm Lisa, a single mother lives with her daughter Chloe in a rented flat. Mdm Lisa is currently helping out at her parent’s food store while actively looking for a job. She shared that it is not easy to provide milk and daily necessities to the table – spending most of her monthly income of about S$200-S$300 on daily necessities for her child and herself.’

With the support of this program, it helped lessen some of their financial burdens and help tide them over these trying times. She shared how beneficial the food pack is to her child, because of the program, Chloe is now able to enjoy more nutritious food, grow and learn better in school. In addition, she also mentioned how the workshop will help widen her knowledge which she can then apply in her cooking in the future.

Testimony from beneficiary – Mr Teo and Ming Fa

‘Mr Teo and his family currently reside in a rented flat. Both parents are currently unemployed and face financial constraints. While the mother is the main caregiver of their two children, Mr Teo is proactively looking for possible employment opportunities. Mr Teo and his family spend about half of their monthly finances of about S$600-S$700 on daily necessities.’

They mentioned that the Food and Nutrition Programme, helps Mr Teo lessen his financial burden with the food pack and daily necessities provided. He also mentioned that his child likes drinking milk and the milk provided in the food pack helps to support his child’s nutrition and growth. Similar to Mdm Lisa and Chloe’s story, Mr Teo mentioned that the workshops would help impart knowledge to him enabling him to cook nutritious and delicious meals for his family in the future. Through this program, Mr Teo was able to learn how to cook macaroni with carrots that that family enjoy a lot.

From both testimonials, we can see how important this program is to the beneficiaries. A child’s nutritional needs and development should never be compromised and overlooked.

If you know of someone in need of additional support and meet the following requirements:

Monthly household incomes of S$4500 or less OR Monthly per capita income of S$1125 or less
And the child is enrolled in NTUC First Campus’ My First Skool (MFS)

Share with them that they can write to NTUC My First Skool for additional support.

A child’s nutrition is the first step to having a good start to their education. Let’s not deprive the younger generation of basic daily necessities. Do lend a helping hand and together we can overcome poverty in Singapore.