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With a high rate of child­hood obe­si­ty and non­com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases (NCDs), the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion is set to crack down on sug­ary drinks and high-fat snacks in schools, aim­ing to pro­tect stu­dents’ health and learn­ing.

The min­istry has act­ed fol­low­ing pre­vi­ous re­stric­tions on sug­ar-sweet­ened bev­er­ages in 2017, which al­lowed on­ly wa­ter, 100 per cent fruit juice, low-fat milk and unsweet­ened blend­ed drinks in gov­ern­ment and gov­ern­ment-as­sist­ed schools. While that pol­i­cy fo­cused main­ly on bev­er­ages, the cur­rent pro­pos­al aims to ex­tend the ban to a wider range of un­healthy food items.

Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary Claudelle McKel­lar told a Joint Se­lect Com­mit­tee that the min­istry is re­view­ing its di­etary pro­gramme, in­clud­ing meals served through the School Nu­tri­tion Pro­gramme, and ex­am­in­ing cafe­te­ria poli­cies with guid­ance from the Min­istry of Health.