Learn to Eat Well, a new report by UNESCO and the Research Consortium of School Health and Nutrition, was released in March 2025. It calls for greater attention on the nutritional lessons that children are receiving in schools, from the food they eat, to the classes they are taught. Just as social media’s influence is being examined for its effect on education, many countries are taking notice of the need to improve nutrition education. Some countries are taking steps to ban junk food from schools (Mexico, Abu Dhabi, and France), while other countries are increasingly concerned about children being targeted by unhealthy food marketing in schools. The latest data shows that just under half (47%) of children have access to school meals, which are shown to improve education attendance and learning outcomes. But, in a world where childhood obesity rates have more than doubled since 1990, UNESCO is calling for governments to monitor the quality of those school meals and improve nutrition education throughout educational systems.
Five Key Recommendations:
Integrate Nutrition Education Across All Levels: From early childhood through to higher education, nutrition education should be embedded across curricula to empower students with the knowledge to make healthy food choices.
Increase Multi-Sectoral Collaboration: Effective nutrition interventions require a collaboration between education, health, agriculture, and other sectors to tackle the broader determinants of children’s relationship with food.
Encourage Individual Behaviour Change: Public awareness campaigns and systemic changes in food environments, especially in schools, are necessary to ensure healthier eating habits are accessible to all.
Strengthening the Nutrition Workforce: Investment in training and professional development for teachers, nutritionists, and school health professionals will enhance the quality of school meal programs and nutrition education.
Establish Robust Monitoring Systems: Effective tracking of the quality of school meal programs and related policies will ensure accountability and measure progress towards improved nutrition outcomes.
For more information, visit: unesco.org/gem-report/en.
