Parents keep their children home from school, so the school reorganizes the school lunch program.

After the controversy over smelly food being brought into schools and the announcement of stopping the organization of boarding meals, causing hundreds of parents to react and let their children stay home from school, on the evening of October 20, Cu Khe Primary School (Binh Minh Commune, Hanoi) announced the reorganization of boarding meals for students.

Accordingly, starting today, October 21st, the school will resume providing lunch for students.

The school's announcement stated that while legal procedures are being finalized for a new catering service provider to begin cooking meals for the boarding students, and to ensure uninterrupted boarding services, starting from October 21st, Cu Khe Primary School will continue to provide boarding meals from a single food supplier. This supplier has been assessed by the People's Committee of Binh Minh Commune and meets food safety and hygiene standards.

A classroom at Cu Khe Primary School was empty on the morning of October 20th as many parents reacted by keeping their children home from school.

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY PARENTS

Cu Khe Primary School further informed that currently, the selection of contractors to provide meals must follow the correct procedures, so from October 21st to 24th, the school will sign a temporary contract with a team of professionally trained kitchen staff.

Cooking will take place in the school kitchen, with the support and supervision of the People's Committee of Binh Minh commune, the health station, and the parent representatives of each class. After the bidding evaluation process is completed, the winning bidder will officially provide lunch for the students.

Cu Khe Primary School also commits to ensuring food safety and hygiene in accordance with regulations.

As Thanh Nien newspaper reported on October 20th, nearly a week after discovering foul-smelling meat and quail eggs in the kitchen of Cu Khe Primary School, many parents kept their children home from school to protest the school's lack of close supervision of the school's canteen, its failure to fulfill its responsibilities regarding children's meals, and the school's handling of the situation.

Specifically, early on the morning of October 15th, parent representatives conducted a surprise inspection of the school's kitchen and discovered "quail eggs and a small amount of meat that smelled bad," were not refrigerated, and that the utensils and processing procedures in the kitchen did not meet hygiene and safety standards...

According to many parents, after the incident, the school announced the suspension of food supply from Nhat Anh company and would contract with another company to provide lunch services starting from October 20th.

However, on October 19th, through the homeroom teachers, the school solicited parents' opinions on two options for after-school care: the first option was for parents to bring lunch to school for their children. The school would arrange for teachers to supervise the children during lunchtime and nap time in the classroom.

Option 2: Parents pick up their children after morning classes and bring them back to school for afternoon classes.

According to many parents, both options place difficulties on them, as many work far away and cannot return home to pick up their children at lunchtime, while cooking meals in the morning and packing them in containers to bring to school is also inconvenient.

According to a report from Cu Khe Primary School, on the morning of October 20th, over 180 students were absent, some due to health issues. Of the 1,330 students who attended school, approximately 500 brought their own lunch to eat at school; the rest were picked up by their parents to eat and rest at home during lunchtime.

Following parental reactions, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training requested local authorities to direct and implement solutions to allow Cu Khe Primary School to reopen its school canteen, ensuring safety so that parents can feel secure sending their children to school.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phu-huynh-cho-con-nghi-hoc-nha-truong-to-chuc-lai-bua-an-ban-tru-185251020232034711.htm