Boarding school safety for students: Strict control from the beginning

Education and Training - Schools and localities have proposed many solutions to ensure food safety in the provision of food to boarding school kitchens, create trust among parents, and better implement the implementation of teaching 2 sessions/day.

Pay attention to every detail

In the 2025-2026 school year, Nam Ha Primary School (Thanh Sen Ward, Ha Tinh ) has about 1,000 students, of which more than 80% registered for boarding meals. According to Ms. Tong Thi Thanh Binh - Principal of the school, in order to organize boarding meals well, from the first day of school, the school board distributed registration forms to parents on a completely voluntary basis.

To serve nearly 900 students and teachers participating in the boarding school, the school's 11 catering staff must work continuously and urgently. Each day begins with receiving and checking the quantity, quality and freshness of food delivered by the supplier. After that, each person is assigned tasks such as cleaning utensils, kitchen area, preparing and processing food.

The school always chooses reputable food suppliers. The staff assigned to receive food must be responsible for monitoring both quantity and quality. Importing fresh, unprocessed food will be more difficult but helps ensure safety and save costs, improving the quality of meals," said Ms. Binh.

Vu Quang Town Primary School (Vu Quang Commune, Ha Tinh) has received much praise from parents and the online community in recent days for organizing boarding meals for only 15,000 VND (not including cooking and serving costs), but still ensuring quality and nutrition. Meals are carefully prepared with dishes such as meat, stir-fried vegetables, soup and rice.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hong Linh - Principal informed that this year the school has 447 students, 422 of whom eat at the boarding school. The organization of the boarding school is strictly managed, all stages from receiving food, processing to the dining room are monitored by the camera system, the images are fully recorded. If parents have a need, they can go in and check directly after reporting to the security guard at the school gate.

Lunchtime of students at Huoi Luong Ethnic Boarding Secondary School (Phong Tho commune, Lai Chau ). Photo: Ha Thuan

“Each meal costs 15,000 VND for the food. In addition, parents pay an additional 8,000 VND to pay for the teachers to cook, serve and take care of students at noon. Previously, the school had 5 catering staff, currently one of them has resigned but the remaining staff are still working. All have been trained and have certificates according to regulations,” Ms. Linh added.

Hoa Khanh Primary School (Hoa Khanh Commune, Dong Thap ) has contracted with an outside unit to provide about 110 meals for students. Ms. Nguyen Huynh An - Principal of Hoa Khanh Primary School said that since the beginning of the school year, the school has organized a bidding process to select a reputable meal supplier that ensures the required standards.

“Nutrition and safety are always top priorities. Parents also agree and appreciate the capacity of the meal provider. All ingredients are imported from suppliers with food hygiene and safety certificates. Kitchen staff are required to have regular health check-ups and strictly comply with hygiene regulations during processing,” Ms. An shared.

Nursery staff at Ngo Thi Nham Kindergarten (Ha Dong, Hanoi) prepare meals for boarding children. Photo: Dinh Tue

Be determined with unsafe food

Huoi Luong Ethnic Boarding Secondary School (Phong Tho Commune, Lai Chau) currently has 720 students, including 422 boarding students. Here, students are provided with 3 meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner with a rich seasonal menu, ensuring adequate nutrition for learning and educational activities.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Truong - Principal of the school, said: "Every time vegetables, meat, fish... are imported, the service staff checks the freshness. If the food is found to be rotten, has an unusual smell or color, or is not safe, they will resolutely refuse to accept it. At the same time, we will strengthen the inspection and supervision of food processing stages, and cooking utensils must always be clean and dry."

With 262 students staying directly at school, including Saturdays and Sundays, ensuring food rations and food safety and hygiene is always a priority for Nam Pi Ethnic Boarding Secondary School (Le Loi Commune, Lai Chau).

According to Mr. Chu Huy Duc - Principal, because the school has a contract to supply food to a unit in Lai Chau city, food is imported twice a week. Perishable foods will be stored in the freezer, while dry foods will be stored in a cool place.

According to Mr. Duc, the school is located in an area under control of African swine fever, so pork products will not be included in students' meals until the epidemic is over and pork products are quarantined to ensure safety.

Ms. Tran Thanh Thuy - Principal of Vinh Phuoc Primary School (Vinh Phuoc Commune, Dong Thap) said that keeping samples not only ensures transparency in the process, but also helps control the nutritional chart, weight and safety of each meal. Thanks to that, parents can feel completely secure when feeding their children at school.

“In reality, organizing good meals for boarding students brings many benefits such as ensuring students’ nutrition, better health, and parents’ peace of mind in sending their children to school. At the same time, schools have the conditions to improve teaching and learning efficiency. Especially in the context of the entire education sector doing a better job of implementing 2-session teaching/day,” said Ms. Thuy.

Preparing meals for students at Binh Thuy Primary School (Binh Thuy, Can Tho). Photo: Quoc Ngu

Tighten from the start

With 650 children registered for boarding meals at school this school year, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu An - Principal of Ngo Thi Nham Kindergarten (Ha Dong Ward, Hanoi) emphasized that the school's first principle when creating a weekly menu for children is to absolutely not use out-of-season vegetables in preparing boarding meals.

“This is not the harvest season for vegetables such as cabbage, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, etc., so we do not choose to include them in the menu. Instead, we prioritize using seasonal vegetables for easy preparation and to ensure their origin. The school has also invested in many modern facilities for boarding, so parents are very assured,” said Ms. Thu An.

Sharing the same view, Ms. Bui Thi Van - Principal of An Khanh B Kindergarten (An Khanh, Hanoi) said that the quality of children's meals is always a particularly important task that the board of directors pays close attention to and directs strongly right from the beginning.

There are currently more than 600 children eating at the school, every day the school sends representatives of the board of directors, medical staff, accountants to coordinate with the kitchen staff in receiving food sources under the witness of some parents. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, milk... must be guaranteed to be fresh and delicious in terms of appearance, if there are signs of not being guaranteed, they will be returned to the supplier.

“In particular, every year the school sends a delegation to visit and inspect the food origin of the school’s food supplier. From raising chickens to growing vegetables, where, how to take care of them… everything has to be done by real people so we can feel secure in cooperating to ensure food safety,” Ms. Van added.

From an expert perspective, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam - Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology, acknowledged that we currently have a system of guiding documents on ensuring food safety in schools. Localities must adhere to current regulations as a basis for guiding educational institutions in implementation.

“In particular, this must be inspected and monitored to ensure the transparency and supply capacity of food suppliers. The physical facilities at schools must also be guaranteed to implement boarding activities as well as teaching 2 sessions/day according to the direction of the Education sector,” Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam added.

Currently managing 23 public kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools in the area, Mr. Bui The Anh - Head of the Department of Culture and Society of Hat Mon commune (Hanoi) affirmed that since the summer, the commune has established a Steering Committee for food safety; set up a team to evaluate food suppliers and meals for students in schools in the area. According to him, it is necessary to be strict from the beginning to control boarding safety.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/an-toan-ban-tru-cho-hoc-sinh-kiem-soat-chat-tu-dau-vao-post749507.html