Public school meals: Why not?

Boarding meals at educational institutions are a hot topic, attracting public attention. Not just a simple nutritional issue, boarding meals are also a multidimensional picture reflecting the concerns of parents, the efforts of schools and the issues raised in management.

A school lunch in Thach Ha commune posted on social media.

Recently, on September 19, a Facebook account named Lan Le posted a picture of a 25,000 VND boarding meal of a school in Thach Ha commune on Facebook with the information: "A 25,000 VND meal does not include extra fees. If included, it would be more." The photo shows that the meal includes 3 pieces of tofu, 5 fried balls, pumpkin soup and rice. Immediately, the image of the meal, which was considered inappropriate, received many comments from parents. Among them, many expressed outrage at the lack of nutrition in the meal, which was not appropriate for the amount of money that parents had to pay.

There have been similar cases in the past at a number of schools in Ha Tinh . The common point of these incidents is that the pictures were taken by parents and posted on social media to express their dissatisfaction with the meals that were not nutritious enough and not worth the price. Although some of the pictures may not reflect the reality, they have had a significant impact on the reputation of the school.

According to Meritorious Teacher Luu Thi Phuong, Deputy Head of the Preschool Education - Student Affairs Department, Department of Education and Training of Ha Tinh province, these incidents show that the management of boarding work and publicity at that facility is not good and especially there is a lack of close connection between parents and schools.

Boarding meal at Tan Lam Huong Primary School 2 (Ha Huy Tap ward).

Circular 09/2024/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training regulates the publicity in the activities of educational institutions in the national education system, including the content on publicity of boarding meals: schools must publicize the plan for child care and nutrition; children's daily menu (menu; detailed list of daily food and food imports); food portion quantity (from fresh food to food portion quantity, number of meals/day for children according to each age)...

Obviously, the law exists, but not all educational institutions strictly and regularly implement it. A parent whose child is studying at an elementary school in Thanh Sen ward said that homeroom teachers rarely send pictures of their children's meals to parents.

Lunch plays a very important role in the development of students, helping them recharge during the school day and supporting their comprehensive development in terms of physical, mental and intellectual aspects. According to Dr. CKI Pham Thi Thu Huong, Head of the Department of Nutrition, Provincial Center for Disease Control, when children are fed a full and balanced diet at school, they grow better, get sick less often and develop healthier. In addition, children who eat enough nutrients will have the ability to concentrate, remember and absorb knowledge better. Therefore, lunch is always a top concern of parents and the public announcement of lunch for children has also received many positive responses from parents.

The image of the lunch at Vu Quang Primary School surprised and praised the online community.

Recently, the image of students of Vu Quang Primary School (Vu Quang Commune) enjoying school meals with a rich, nutritious menu in an air-conditioned dining room with a camera surveillance system, spread on social networks, received positive feedback from the community.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hong Linh, Principal of the school, confirmed that the shared images are real and added that each meal for the children, the food alone costs 15,000 VND, the cost of cooking, serving and taking care of the children at noon is 8,000 VND, a total of 23,000 VND per meal. In addition, the school also publicly posts the menu, organizes kitchen tours, and allows parents to randomly check…”

Many educational institutions have publicly provided meals for boarding children in many forms.

It can be seen that publicizing boarding meals will create trust among parents; help schools discover problems to overcome and make appropriate adjustments to improve the quality of meals for children and ensure the safety of children's health.

Currently, many educational institutions have made public the provision of boarding meals for children in many forms such as: publicizing on the electronic information portal of the educational institution; publicly posting on the school bulletin board in a convenient location; through a number of channels such as: class zalo group, school facebook...

However, it is still important that publicity must be carried out in a substantial manner, avoiding formality, in which the head of the educational institution must be the one who manages school meals, closely coordinates with the parent association to discuss and agree with the ultimate goal of creating a healthy, happy eating environment, helping children have moments of relaxation and energy regeneration after school hours...