INTRODUCTION Nutrition education in schools provide a special medium for nutrition education and for intervention to improve children’s health and nutritional status. Beside, this it helps children in acquiring nutrition knowledge and to develop and encourage desirable eating habits and food choices. On the consequents, Children can also help in changing the eating habits of their families by demanding desirable food, and when they themselves become parents in the future, they can impart good dietary habits to their children. As the children are the future of the country. The importance of child health has been described by many ancient Unani physicians. In India, children under 15 years of age constitute about 40 per cent of the population. School children constitute a large pool of children of this age group. Nutritional status is a major component of school health services. A child’s entire life is determined in large measures by the food given to him during his first five years. Because childhood period is of rapid growth and development, and nutrition is one of the influencing factors in this period. Malnutrition causes a great deal of physical and emotional suffering and it is a violation of a child’s human rights. Malnutrition substantially rises the risk of infant and child deaths, and increases vulnerability to a variety of diseases in later life. Children who are undernourished and underweighed are likely to be fewer cleavers than if they were well fed. Health of children is of great importance as rapid growth occurs during this period. Good nutrition is a basic ABSTRACT : Nutrition education of the school child is of paramount importance as the healthy children are supreme wealth of the nation because the foundation for life time, health, strength and intellectual vitality is laid during this period. Maintaining a balanced diet and regular exercise is important for all individuals, especially school-aged children (6-12 years). These children are required to eat a variety of foods from each food group to ensure optimal intake of all vitamins, proteins and minerals. At the same time, they may face new challenges regarding food choices and habits. So, decisions about what to eat are partly determined by what is provided in school, at home, the influences from friends at school, and the media, especially television. For taking these points in mind, different crucial message were identified for nutrition education for school children. Hence, study was conducted in Hisar district of Haryana State. The results showed that from the list of fourteen main messages and thirty seven sub-messages three main messages viz., balance diet, protective foods and food hygiene were identified with its thirteen sub-messages viz., ‘importance of balanced diet’, ‘functions of balanced diet’, ‘food group’ and ‘nutritional requirement of school children’. KEY WORDS : Nutrition education, School children, Food consumption View Point Article : Choudhary, Shikha, Kaushik, Sushma and Rani, Ella (2015). Identification of crucial message for nutrition education for school children. Internat. J. Home Sci. Extn. & Comm. Manage., 2 (1): 28-32. Article History : Received : 01.10.2014; Revised : 25.11.2014; Accepted : 11.12.2014 * Author for correspondence : (Email : raniella9@gmail.com) Identification of crucial message for nutrition education for school children SHIKHA CHOUDHARY, SUSHMA KAUSHIK AND ELLA RANI* Department of Extension Education and Communication Management, C.C.S. Haryana Agricultural University, HISAR (HARYANA) INDIA RESE A RCH RTICLE Home Science Extension And IJ Communication Management International Journal of Volume 2 | Issue 1 | Jan., 2015 | 28-32  Visit us : www.researchjournal.co.in  DOI : 10.15740/HAS/IJHSECM/2.1/28-32