Nutritional meals for children in the highlands of Ky Son

(Baonghean) - Lunch for preschool children in Ky Son district is being provided in two forms: kindergartens cooking for children, and boarding schools providing meals for children (locals bring their own meals to school). Both of these forms have been effective, ensuring nutritious meals for children, contributing to improving the effectiveness and quality of education in mountainous areas.

The Ba village kindergarten is a satellite school of the Huu Kiem Commune Kindergarten, Ky Son District. In the 2015-2016 school year, the class has 26 children, aged 3-5 years old. If the previous school year, the class only had 1 teacher, this year, the class has 2 teachers to take care of and teach the children. With 2 teachers, plus the parents' awareness of taking care of their children is getting better and better, so the children's boarding meals are getting better and better... Every day, the children come to class at 7am; at 9-10am, lunch is brought by parents; at 10:45am, the children eat. 26 children are 26 thermal lunch boxes with food such as meat, fish, eggs... Even though many houses are nearly an hour's walk or climb through the forest from the school, for nearly 2 months now, very few children have missed school, and no parent has "forgotten" to bring lunch for their children to school.

Lunch of children at Huu Kiem Kindergarten (Ky Son).

Such meals have been provided for the past 3 years in the Ba village kindergarten. Teacher Lu Thi Hai, a teacher here, said: In the past time, the school has done a good job of propaganda, so parents are now aware of taking care of the children's nutritional meals. Parents have "competed" to not let their children lose out to their friends. This school year, to make the children's meals better, the school organized parent meetings, assigned parents to buy thermos lunchboxes; cooked soup in rotation... The budget for cooking soup comes from the support of 120,000 VND/month for the children according to the Prime Minister's Decision dated October 26, 2011. Ms. Luong Thi Nga, mother of Bao Ngan, who is studying in the Ba village kindergarten, shared: The allowances that families receive are in installments, so when they are not distributed in time, we spend money first to cook soup. Each pot of soup costs 50 thousand dong, with vegetables, squash and meat. Because she cooked it for her own children, the soup was very delicious…

Parents help Huu Kiem Kindergarten build toilets.

Most of the people in Huu Kiem commune work on the fields, and their lives are still difficult. In the past, most people were not aware of the importance of nutrition for children's development, but now, thanks to the teachers and the commune's regular propaganda and reminders, we all understand and know clearly. Now, no matter where parents go to work, they must cook a decent lunch for their children first; if they cannot cook, they can ask other parents to help.

Huu Kiem Commune Kindergarten currently has 8 satellite schools, all of which are providing meals for boarding students, similar to the Ba village school. As for the main school, parents return the above-mentioned support money so that teachers can cook main meals and mid-day meals for the children. Teacher Nguyen Thi Huong, Principal of the school, said: Providing boarding meals for children from the support regime according to Decision 60 of the Prime Minister, the school has implemented the above-mentioned 2 cooking methods. Comparing the 2 methods, teachers cooking meals for children at the same time ensures better nutrition. Parents cooking has certain limitations such as uneven nutrition of the meals, and the temperature is not guaranteed in the winter.

In fact, in Huu Kiem commune, not only nearby villages but also in distant villages such as Huoi Tho, Dinh Son 1, Dinh Son 2, children's lunches have received much more attention than before thanks to the joint efforts of parents and teachers. At the beginning of the school year, teachers, Party committees, and commune and village authorities have increased propaganda about taking care of meals in many different forms and this involvement has gradually changed the awareness of parents. If in the past, some families did not care much about children's meals, and some parents even used the support money of 120,000 VND/month to use for other purposes, now this situation no longer exists. Not only do parents care and worry about their children's meals, but preschool teachers also always keep close watch over their children. Many teachers have spent their own money to take care of lunches for children from very difficult families.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Hoa, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ky Son district, said: The district currently has over 5,000 preschool children. Although the economic life of the Mong, Thai, and Kho Mu ethnic groups in remote villages on the border is still facing many difficulties, people are always aware of and care about their children's meals and sleep. In addition, schools in the district have also effectively used the support funds to organize good lunches for preschool children at school, contributing to improving the quality of education, reducing the rate of malnutrition for children in preschools; contributing to limiting the dropout rate. In many schools, preschool teachers even volunteer to cook for the children so that the meals are hot, fresh, and in the right portion. Many parents also volunteer to contribute rice, vegetables, cooking oil, meat, fish, firewood and come to school to cook rice to help the teachers because the teachers are always happy and ready to help the children develop.

“The current difficulty of Ky Son is that the isolated locations are scattered in the highlands, remote villages, buying fresh food is not convenient; the kitchen system and clean water for cooking are also not guaranteed. However, with the determination to overcome difficulties, parents and teachers are volunteering to create many good and effective ways to better take care of lunch for children. This is also one of the solutions for Ky Son children to go to school regularly and fully,” teacher Nguyen Hong Hoa confided.

Article and photos:Thanh Son