School lunches: Still difficult to implement

Many public primary schools in Dong Nai have implemented a boarding model, serving lunch for students. This is also the desire of many parents, especially those who do not have the conditions to pick up and drop off their children at noon, such as officials, civil servants, office workers, workers in factories, industrial parks, etc.

Ms. Pham Thi Ngoc Ha, whose child studies at Binh Da Primary School (Tam Hiep Ward), shared: “I feel very secure about the boarding model where my child is studying. Thanks to the school having this model, I do not have to go to school at noon to pick up my child, do not have to worry about feeding and taking care of my child in the afternoon.”

Convenient for parents

Thanks to the school's boarding model, Ms. Pham Thi Ngoc Ha does not have to worry much about her child's transportation, meals, sleep, and study at noon and afternoon. Instead, in the morning, Ms. Ha only takes her child to school and then goes to work at the company in Amata Industrial Park (Long Binh Ward), and in the afternoon, she comes to school to pick her child up and take him home. Ms. Ha feels more secure when her child shows interest in eating at school because there are many dishes, especially eating with friends in class makes her child happier.

Principal of Binh Da Primary School Tran Thi Huyen said: “The school has implemented 2-session boarding school/day, combined with the Japanese Kitchen model for many years now. For input food, the school strictly controls the origin and quality, and the processing procedure is strictly implemented from preliminary processing, processing, preservation in the kitchen until it is delivered to the classroom to serve students at 11am. This entire process, in addition to regular supervision by the school, is also supervised by parents.

Thanks to not having to face pressure on student numbers, up to now, most primary schools in Long Khanh ward have implemented a boarding model with 2 sessions/day, serving lunch for students. When implementing, they received the consent of parents, because most parents do not have time to pick up and drop off their children at noon. Moreover, the publicity of funding, quality of meals, eating and resting conditions of students is implemented quite well and in a disciplined manner by schools, making parents confident in registering their children to participate.

According to Ms. Le Thi Phuong Thuy, Principal of Le Van Tam Primary School (Long Khanh Ward): “Last school year, the school started a pilot program of boarding with lunch, and this school year is the official implementation on a more systematic scale. In addition to being served lunch in the dining area, students also take a nap, have beds, blankets, sheets, and pillows. Not only that, all classrooms are equipped with fans and air conditioners.”

Talking about the students' meals, Ms. Le Thi Phuong Thuy said: "Each lunch will have rice, a savory dish, a stir-fried dish, soup and dessert, ensuring adequate nutrition and the menu will be changed weekly."

Hope for more than boarding model

The implementation of the boarding model in schools has received much attention and support from many parents. However, due to many objective and subjective reasons, not all public schools can implement it easily. This not only causes inconvenience to parents and students, but also wastes the State's investment resources. In fact, there are primary schools that can completely implement the boarding model but are slow to implement it, or many schools want to implement it but do not have the conditions. There are schools that are implementing boarding but have decided not to continue serving meals...

Ms. Hoang Thi Ngoc, Principal of Nguyen An Ninh Primary School (Tam Hiep Ward) said: This year the school still implements the boarding model, serving lunch for students at a reasonable cost. However, serving boarding students is very stressful for both the Board of Directors and teachers.

The principal of a primary school in Trang Dai ward said: Because the school has a large number of students (over 2,000 students), while the physical facilities are old, degraded and cramped, it is impossible to organize boarding for students at noon. Therefore, after noon, the students are registered by their parents to stay at the homeroom teacher's house. Here, the students have lunch, rest and in the afternoon the teacher guides them to do homework, after which the parents come to pick them up and take them home.

Regarding the quality of meals for students at teachers' homes, the principal of a primary school in Trang Dai Ward shared: this is a rather worrying issue. In fact, through a number of surprise inspections by authorities in the past at teachers' homes that take care of children after hours, the quality of meals for boarding students is not guaranteed in terms of nutrition. In addition, the conditions for taking care of children after hours, such as places to eat, sleep, live, and conditions for fire prevention and fighting pose potential safety risks for students.

Schools that implement the boarding model will bring many benefits to students, which is to facilitate them to study, eat, rest in a reasonable and scientific way, forming good habits, especially controlling food safety and hygiene issues. In addition, parents will significantly reduce the cost of time and effort of daily pick-up and drop-off. Therefore, the ward will review public schools in the area, schools that have the conditions should implement boarding for students.

Vice Chairman of Tam Hiep Ward People's Committee LUU THI HANG

Entering the new school year 2025-2026, some primary schools in the old Binh Phuoc province have informed parents that the school will still teach 2 sessions/day, but will not organize lunch service for students as before. This makes parents worried, especially those who work in factories in industrial parks. According to some schools, the suspension of boarding meals for students is due to concerns about the fee for boarding services. In order to maintain this activity and support parents, the Department of Education and Training has issued a document instructing schools to continue implementing it.

Meanwhile, through a recent survey of 30 public schools in 8 border communes by the Department of Education and Training, all schools want to organize boarding classes, especially at the primary level. However, the schools have so far faced a common difficulty: inadequate facilities; some schools have had to temporarily stop providing boarding classes after a period of implementation. Some schools still implement boarding classes, but the students' meals are brought in from outside to serve the students, making it difficult to control food safety.
food

Justice

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202509/bua-an-trua-cho-hoc-sinh-trong-truong-hoc-van-kho-trien-khai-9731d9b/