KUCHING, May 13: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing is advocating compulsory consumption of banana and milk for children in primary schools.
“The nutritious aspect of bananas and milk must be considered and should be consumed by all school children at primary schools.
“The compulsory consumption of bananas and milk at primary school level will develop our children physical development and brain power,” said Masing in a statement today.
He said many studies had proven that bananas and milk, if consumed at an early age, would develop children’s brain activities.
“Moreover, banana is easy to plant in Malaysia, while milk can also be obtained in Malaysia. When refrigeration is available in rural areas, then consumption of milk must be considered for children studying in the rural areas,” said Masing, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation.
He said the consumption of bananas and milk would also bring about other benefits, including the high possibility that it might result in two sets of industries to be developed — banana plantation and dairy farming.
“This planning is better than the change of uniform, like white shoes into black shoes. The black shoe policy planned by the Ministry of Education is very superficial and has no benefit to developing our children’s physical development and brain power,” he said.
Apart from reviewing the curriculum and syllabus from time to time, Masing opined that the Ministry of Education should also look at children’s physical and mental development.
“It is time that we must allow nutritionists to give their input to our children’s education,” said Masing. — DayakDaily
