NSTDA recently announced collaboration with the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and the Department of Local Administration to employ big data analytics and artificial intelligence to monitor nutritional status and enable nutritional school lunch menu for pre-school and school-aged children.
NSTDA President Dr. Narong Sirilertworakul revealed that a big data analytics platform will be developed by NECTEC-NSTDA to integrate data from KidDiary and Thai School Lunch. KidDiary is a platform developed by NECTEC containing information on weight and height of an individual student for child growth monitoring, whereas Thai School Lunch is a tool to help schools self-plan nutritious school lunch menus according to the nutrition requirements for each school age group. The combined data from both systems is expected to support the policy and planning of school lunch program for the health benefit of school children. The new big data analytics platform will utilize artificial intelligence to screen for children at risk of malnutrition and alert the school.
Both the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and the Department of Local Administration have been instrumental in implementing Thai School Lunch system in schools across the country. This partnership will further enhance the previous collaboration to promote child health.