(kontumtv.vn) – Before the new school year, besides preparing facilities, teachers, andeducational environment, the issue that many parents and society are concerned about is the quality of school meals.
In the 2023-2024 school year, many incidents involving substandard food occurred in a number of schools across the country, affecting the health of students and causing parents to lose confidence. This raises the issue of the need to strengthen supervision and promote the role of stakeholders in the process of selecting and managing school meal providers.
Concerns about the quality of school meals
Affirming the important role of school meals for children at the "age of eating and growing up", Dr. Truong Hong Son, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Medical Association, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, said: School meals are very important for children's health, especially preschool and primary school children whose immune systems are not yet fully developed and are susceptible to digestive disorders. However, we have not paid due attention to this issue. Every year, food poisoning cases still occur because many stages in the supply chain do not ensure food hygiene and safety.
Recently, after the Ministry of Education and Training issued decisions guiding the organization of school meals combined with increasing physical activities for children and students in preschools, primary schools and secondary schools in 2022, according to the assessment of many parents and teachers, the quality of meals at schools has improved. Many schools have established food safety monitoring teams, with the participation of parents' representatives; the school board assigns food receiving schedules to classes, and when a class is on duty, a representative of the parents' committee of that class will come to inspect and supervise. Some schools also manage people entering and exiting the kitchen area, ensuring safety throughout the processing process.
However, in reality, school meal safety is always a concern for parents as there are still cases of food poisoning or "small" meals that do not ensure quality.
Concerned about the reputation of the units and businesses providing meals at schools, Ms. Hoang Thi Xuan (Cau Giay, Hanoi) whose child is entering grade 3 this year shared: Every year, the school issues forms for parents to voluntarily register for meals for their children. In the meetings at the beginning of the year, the homeroom teacher will announce the amount of money to be paid and the name of the unit organizing the meals. However, information about the meal provider is only announced like that. Parents do not know what that unit is like or what its capacity is.
Sharing the same concern, Ms. Phung Ngoc Lien (Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi) said that the students' meals are paid for by their parents, but parents only know the meal provider through the school's announcement and are not involved in the process of selecting the provider. "Even in the family's daily meals, choosing safe and fresh food is not easy, so providing meals for thousands of students at school is even more difficult. This concern is not only mine but also that of many other parents. In the new school year, I will pay more attention to my children's meals as well as the criteria for choosing the school's meal provider," Ms. Lien shared.
In fact, there have been cases where parents have transferred their children to other schools because school meals are not guaranteed. “Children need adequate, safe, and reasonable nutrition to develop both physically and mentally. This year, I decided to transfer my child to another school because I realized that the meals my children had at school last year were not guaranteed,” said Ms. Nguyen Thu Hang, a parent in Long Bien District, Hanoi. This parent expressed her wish that parents would be directly involved in the process of selecting food suppliers and coordinating with the school to control their children’s daily meals.
Select suppliers based on actual capacity
In the current context, in order for students to have safe, healthy, and nutritious school meals, close coordination between the health and education sectors and relevant parties from the central to local levels is needed in all activities of implementation, monitoring, inspection, and professional support for schools.
Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said: To improve the quality of school meals, first of all, there needs to be close cooperation between schools, parents and authorities in selecting and monitoring meal suppliers. Selection criteria need to be clearly and transparently established, based on the actual capacity of the supplier. Schools need to publicize information about meal suppliers, including food origin, processing procedures and food safety certifications. Parents need to have access to and participate in this monitoring process.
In addition, the authorities need to strengthen inspection and supervision of food quality at catering units. Enterprises need to be responsible and committed to the quality of the food they provide. In particular, there should be strict sanctions for violating enterprises to protect the health and interests of students.
On the parents' side, Ms. Nguyen Van Anh (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) analyzed that in the chain of ensuring safe and nutritious school meals, the Parents' Association will have to be the closest member. The Parents' Association can rotate in groups to monitor and check the quality of meals according to the checklist. After receiving enough, checking the quantity and quality of food, it will move to the processing stage. When delivering meals to children, parents can even sit and eat together.
Currently, schools often choose meal suppliers based on certain criteria, often only checking “on paper”, in the form of “offer documents” and of course, the company’s documents are fully qualified, meet basic standards, and meet the requirements. In some cases, businesses only need to submit a complete application to be considered without having to carefully check their actual capacity. Therefore, the quality of students’ meals depends largely on the responsibility, conscience of the supplier and the supervision of the school.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Bach (Ha Dong, Hanoi) shared: Schools often do not have clear information about the number of businesses submitting applications to provide services or the criteria for selecting suppliers. Therefore, the selection is still subjective from the perspective of the school board. Parents are not allowed to directly participate with the parent board and the school to assess the food origin of the meal supplier; they are not allowed to directly supervise the food receiving and processing work in the kitchen every day. Therefore, entering the new school year, Mr. Bach hopes for more transparency in the selection and supervision of school meal suppliers, to ensure that his children use safe and nutritious food.
Source: https://kontumtv.vn/tin-tuc/van-hoa-the-thao/minh-bach-trong-lua-chon-giam-sat-don-vi-cung-cap-mea-an-hoc-duong
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