Measuring More Than Weight

Picture a classroom where a ten-year-old boy stares out the window not because he’s daydreaming, but because hunger has made concentration impossible. Imagine a girl who loves mathematics but can’t engage with numbers when her stomach speaks louder than her teacher. Think of students who quietly disappear from school one day, their education interrupted by the unbearable weight of poverty and malnutrition in Nepal. For many in rural communities, this is the daily reality and the crisis that Calls Over Ridges Nepal (CORN) is working to change.

Combating Malnutrition

In a country built on agriculture, it’s a pressing national concern that our children still are malnourished. Despite government pledges, malnutrition and hunger remains widespread, especially in rural and marginalized communities.

Malnutrition describes a health condition where your diet contains too few or too many of some nutrients to maintain proper functioning. It shows up in two forms: overnutrition and undernutrition. Overnutrition includes being overweight or obese, as well as other diet-related diseases such as diabetes. On the other hand, undernutrition includes wasting (low weight-for-height from recent severe weight loss), stunting (low height-for-age from chronic undernutrition), and being underweight (low weight-for-age).

These aren’t just physical conditions, they’re warning signs of deeper systemic neglect. The numbers collected during the year 2081/82 (2024-25) revealed that in Gorkha Municipality, undernutrition continues to rob children of their health, potential, and dreams. Out of 4,717 students measured, 64.2% were underweight, 2.6% were overweight, and 0.6% were obese. These aren’t just statistics, they’re 3,032 children whose bodies tell the story of chronic malnourishment.

The Nutrition Program

At CORN, we know that nutrition shapes a child’s future. To combat this issue head-on, the Nutrition Program began as a pilot initiative in May 2019 and was officially launched in July 2021 in collaboration with Gorkha Municipality and 20 public community schools.

But how do we know whether our interventions are working? Body Mass Index (BMI) is a commonly used indicator of nutritional status because it is a simple and cost-effective method. To calculate BMI, all you need is a tape measure and a scale. Taking the person’s weight (in kilograms), divide this by their height squared (in meters). For children, these numbers are mapped against age and sex-specific growth charts, giving us a clearer picture of who is thriving and who is not.

BMI is not just as a number, but as a tool to identify and intervene. BMI monitoring is integrated into the program through the assistance of parents, teachers, and local nurses. Parents are involved too through education about nutrition and helping reinforce healthy habits at home. Teachers and local health post nurses conduct biannual measurements, collecting student data to track progress and identify at-risk children to CORN project staff. Although BMI cannot distinguish between fat and muscle, or consider how body fat is distributed, it remains a useful method for establishing baseline data and monitoring growth.

The Fight for Dignity, Potential, and Dreams

The impact is visible. In Gorkha, schools reported a 15% reduction in underweight students within one year. Teachers have observed noticeable improvements in students’ focus, energy levels, and overall classroom participation clear indicators of how proper nutrition directly supports learning and well-being.

What’s more, student attendance began climbing when comparing Shrawan and Poush periods for Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Grade 10. This improvement is proof that when you feed a child’s body, you also nourish their learning.

The transformation wasn’t lost on those witnessing it daily. Mr. Gautam Balchheudi, a teacher at Shree Mahalaxmi Secondary School in Gorkha, reflected on the visible change in his students, saying, “This is a much-needed intervention that directly contributes to the well-being of the children.”

The Fight for Dignity, Potential, and Dreams

During the Biannual July to January period (Fiscal Year 2081/082), 6,502 students felt the warmth of care through this program across 20 schools in Gorkha. Picture this: 501,307 nutritious lunch boxes distributed, each not just a meal, but a daily act of commitment to a child’s growth, learning, and dignity.

Initially covering students from ECD to Grade 10, the program’s success led to its expansion in Shrawan 2081 to include Grades 11 and 12, ensuring that no child in their care would face the crucial final years of education on an empty stomach.

Despite BMI’s limitations, it is an evaluation method that serves as a crucial tool in resource-constrained settings. For the Nutrition Program, BMI allows for a broad assessment of nutritional status across thousands of students to provide data that informs our strategy.

As CORN and its partners continue monitoring nutritional outcomes, they’re not just building better meal programs but constructing bridges between present hunger and future hope. Each nutritious meal served, each BMI measurement recorded, each child whose attendance improves becomes another step toward that magnificent vision of zero illiteracy.