New Delhi, Aug. 2 -- A child sits at their desk, pencil in hand, and cannot get to the answer present in the room, but is usually restless, distracted and unable to hold a thought long enough to write it down. Our first instinct is to look inward: is this a motivation problem, a learning difficulty, a rough morning at home? We then look at the curriculum, at pedagogy, and at classroom environment. What we often overlook is the fuller picture: the two hours of passive screen time the night before, the absence of any outdoor movement in days, and the excess weight a child has been quietly carrying.

We fail to connect these dots because we have trained ourselves to see them as separate problems. In reality, they are deeply interdependent. "...