China gives subsidized school lunches to underprivileged students in compulsory education beginning at age six.
In 100,000 rural schools, there are about 23 million students that are covered with the said program. There are as well daily nutritional supplements for hundreds of thousands of poor rural infants below 2 years old. Meanwhile for kids age 3 to 5 years old, the cupboard is bare.
Last year's survey by Chinese Nutrition Society found that China's malnutrition rate among under six years old is 8.1 percent and 11.6 percent in anemia overall.
Malnutrition threatens rural Chinese generation. Lack of vitamins and minerals for children is not yet spotted at an early stage and this cause to an obvious differential height and weight between children in urban and rural areas in same ages.
"A child's intellectual development is half complete at four years old and development of cerebral cells is complete by the age of six," said Zhang Zheng from Amway Charity Foundation.
Zhang added that poor nutrition during infancy will lead to irreversible harm to children's physical and intelligence strength. Thus, the foundation has been giving chewable supplements to kids under age five in poor areas in eight provinces since May.
Moreover, in Hunan's Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, preschoolers from low income families receive 1000 yuan annually and the amount rises when they move on to elementary school.
The China Development Research Foundation has opened "village kindergartens" in seven provinces and offers one yuan of nutritional subsidy for each preschooler each day.
"There is only so much that local governments and NGOs can do. We hope preschoolers, especially those in poor areas, will soon be included in the national nutrition improvement plan," said Bao Taiyang, Xiangxi Prefecture's head of education and sports.
