Round-table report: "The school canteen and children's health"
Within the "Protect My Right" project
Objective of the meeting: to shed light on school canteens and to work on improving the health environment inside them.
- Proceedings of the meeting:
On Wednesday 16 October 2019, the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution held an open meeting entitled "The school canteen and children's health". The meeting was part of the activities of the "Protect My Right" project, with the support of Save the Children, and was attended by 47 people representing parents, children and colleagues from local associations.
The meeting was opened by nutrition expert Eng. Issam Hammad, who spoke about the importance of breakfast for children's health and the types of food that should be included in a morning meal to help children concentrate better and raise their academic achievement at school. He also spoke about the risks of the products available in school canteens, noting that the lack of follow-up by parents in providing their children with breakfast pushes children to eat these products daily and repeatedly, which harms their health. He stressed that there is a shortfall in the follow-up and monitoring of canteens by officials in the school health department of the Ministry of Education.
Mr. Mahmoud Abu Samaan, director of school health at the Ministry of Education, noted that the Ministry fully performs its monitoring and evaluation role and that there are penalties for those who breach the agreed health and safety rules. He pointed out that the products found in canteens do not cause harm if they are not consumed excessively, while stressing at the same time the need for parents to raise awareness among their children and advise them not to eat the products sold by street vendors at school gates, since the safety of that food is unknown.
In addition, Mr. Fayez Al-Sarhi, head of the nutrition and canteens department at the Ministry of Education, added that there is coordination between the Ministry of Economy (consumer protection), the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education (school health) in monitoring, supervising and evaluating these canteens in order to maintain the quality of the products offered to children.
- Recommendations:
- Awareness raising and guidance for children inside schools by counsellors and teachers.
- Banning harmful foods and imposing strict penalties on those who do not comply with these rules.
- Replacing harmful foods with fruit, pastries and natural juices.
- Holding seminars with parents to highlight the importance of breakfast for children's health.
- Keeping street vendors away from school gates or subjecting them to health inspection.
