Parents in Hai Duong "scrutinize" boarding meals

"Surprise" check

Having a son in class 5 years old B, Tranh Xuyen point of Dong Tam Kindergarten (Ninh Giang), sometimes Ms. Mai Thi Bong, mother of Duc Anh, goes to the school to check on her son's learning situation as well as his eating and playing. Ms. Bong said that she does not need to give notice in advance, and is allowed to come to the school at any time. "In the morning when I take my son to school, I can go in to check if the food is fresh or not. At noon, I can go out to see if the cooking is clean and if the children's food portions are adequate or not. I often ask my son about the meals at school and he always says that the food is delicious and he likes to eat at school," Ms. Bong said.

As a parent whose child is entering first grade this year, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thanh in Xuan Neo village, Hung Dao commune (Tu Ky) is worried about what his child's meals at school will be like. During the first week of school, Mr. Thanh spent a session "visiting" the kitchen of Hung Dao Primary School. Mr. Thanh said: "I came unexpectedly, but the school still let us go into the kitchen to see how the food is cooked, prepared, and divided into trays for the children. I found it quite clean, tidy, the dishes were on the menu and plentiful. The food was placed on a high table, and the waiters wore masks and gloves. I felt secure seeing my child's meals like that."

According to a parent in Hai Duong City, only when they arrive will they be able to grasp the reality of what is happening in the provision of meals for boarding students. If they were informed in advance, the school would find a way to "cope", the information and images, even though they are "seen and heard", are not true to reality.

Create maximum conditions

For many years, boarding meals have always been a "hot" topic because they are directly related to the health of students and the finances of parents. Many people are worried, not knowing whether their children will have enough food and drink with the money they spend, whether the food is fresh or not... In Hai Duong, there has been a "scandal" about boarding meals for students in some localities. Grasping that mentality and also to avoid "discussions", many schools have promoted the democratic rights and supervision of parents in their children's boarding meals.

According to Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Huyen, Principal of Dong Tam Kindergarten (Ninh Giang), parents supervising meals has many benefits. "They can see the preparation process and quality of the meals firsthand, and since they are also parents, when they have comments, it will be easier to explain than to let teachers and school staff answer," Ms. Huyen said.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Dung, Principal of Hung Dao Primary School (Tu Ky), for many years now, the school has established a Boarding Meal Supervision Board, consisting of teachers in the school and representatives of parents. The board conducts periodic or ad hoc inspections of food reception, cooking processes, and meal distribution for students. Meal menus are publicly posted on the school bulletin board or sent to Zalo of each class. The school also applies quantitative and nutritional calculation software for each age group. In particular, parents can come to check their children's meals without prior notice, just notify the school when they arrive and the school will arrange for someone to take them to the kitchen area. "This money belongs to the parents, so they have the right to control whether it is used for the right purpose or not. Parents' participation in controlling meals also ensures democracy and objectivity, reducing pressure on the school itself in organizing meals for students," said Ms. Dung.

Not only parents, many district-level Departments of Education and Training also proactively grasp and manage boarding meals at schools. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ninh Giang district, in addition to written instructions and guidance for schools to organize boarding meals for students in accordance with regulations, since 2017, the department has applied software to manage boarding meals. With this software, the department can manage the number of students eating boarding meals at each meal, the types of food used in the meal, the amount of nutrition for each group of students... of each school.

“We require schools to enter full information about boarding meals into the software every day so that we can keep track and promptly correct any irregularities. Due to the early and systematic application of this software, for many years now, Ninh Giang has been considered a locality that has done a good job of organizing boarding meals for students,” said Ms. Tham.