The municipality of Córdoba received the award “Good Practices for Childhood 2025”awarded by the city Niterói (Brazil) and the Mercociudades Networkfor his program Healthy school kiosksa policy that changed the food offerings in urban schools.
The initiative regulates what is sold in canteens: it displaces it Soft drinks, sweets and highly processed foods with warning labels and promotes fruits, nuts, yogurt, popcorn with no added sugar, fruit chips and homemade products in accordance with the Healthy Food and Drink Guide which regulates municipal institutions.
The program is supplemented by “Córdoba chooses water”that installed drinking fountains and safe and free water dispensers in all city schools, educational parks and neighborhood meeting places.
Córdoba: Municipal school canteens will stop selling highly processed products
In conversation with After office (Punto a Punto Radio, FM 90.7), the Minister of Education Alicia La Terza emphasized that the impact goes beyond the schoolyard: children are starting to question certain consumption habits at home, such as sugary drinks or highly processed snacks, and they are doing so “Educators of their own families”.
The official emphasized that the change will be achieved not only through a decree, but through Training for kiosks, working with teaching teams and workshops with familiesso that healthy eating is not associated with expensive products, but with organization and time at home.
Australia raises the bar: networks out of reach of those under 16
While Córdoba is focusing on sugar, Australia has decided to intervene on another front: that of Screens and social networks. From this December 10th a law will come into force prohibits the use of social networks by minors under 16 years of age and forces platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
The standard presented by the government as an “innovative project” to protect children and young people provides Fines for millionaires for companies that do not implement robust verification systems and demonstrate that they have taken “appropriate measures” to prevent the entry of minors under 16 years of age.
Australia has banned social media for those under 16 and could include LinkedIn
Asked about this discussion, La Terza describes a different reality in the municipal schools of Córdoba: Not all students have their own cell phone. And when they do wear it, it’s usually for family organization – for example, to notify who is picking it up – rather than for recreational use. In the classroom, the device remains in the teacher’s field of vision not used during classwithin the framework of the coexistence standards that are developed with each educational community.
The official avoids speaking of absolute prohibitions and prefers the word “Raise awareness”. Also from the secretariat: They do not recommend the use of screens in kindergartens before the age of fourdue to the observed effects on vocabulary, socialization and dialogue between peers, but this recommendation is passed on through workshops and agreements with families, not through sanctions.
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