E-Paper
Maharashtra: IAS officer's AI-based technique to improve students' nutrition
The officer came up with this idea after he found out that many tribal students in a school at Etapalli tehsil of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli were malnourished.
In order to improve the nutrition level of tribal children in Maharashtra's Etapalli, an IAS officer has come up with an innovative technique. The IAS officer, Shubham Gupta has come up with an AI-based machine that conducts a quality check of the meals provided to the students at Todsa Ashram School in Etapalli. The officer said that he thought about this plan after he came to know that 61 out of the 222 girls in the school were malnourished.
Talking about his endeavour, the assistant collector said, “Under project Bhamragad, there are eight govt schools. When I used to come to this all-girls' Ashram School, I used to feel that they lack nutrition. When we had a preliminary BMI analysis, we found that 61 girls out of the 222 were malnourished. Meals are provided here thrice a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Quantity of the food is up to the mark, and we also follow the menu. So, we wanted to ascertain the cause.”
He further said that he came in touch with an NGO which introduced him to a startup, “UdyogYantra” that made the machine which could conduct a quality check of the food being served at the school.
“I came in touch with an NGO that further connected me to a startup. We deployed here this machine designed by them… Through this machine, we have tried to implement improvement in not only the quantity but also the quality of food. Data collected here can be accessed by Headmaster and me. We have installed it in one of the 8 Ashram Schools so far," he said.
The officer added that the results of the initiative were “very positive.”
"We installed it in September 2022. The quality of food has improved since then and children's BMI has also improved,” he said.
