Soup and porridge with vegetable oil

Recently, there have been many complaints about improper nutrition. According to the students' parents, if they have semolina porridge for breakfast in the morning, then a similar menu is offered for lunch. In addition, children are not given bread, cheese, meat, and instead of butter, cheap spread is put in the porridge.

Parents hoped that the situation would change after the high-profile incident that occurred in September last year, when 460 children were poisoned in School No. 8 of the Munaylinsky District. However, only those schools that were fed by this particular supplier were subjected to large-scale inspections. In other cases, they limited themselves to superficial inspections.

Parents of students from several schools, including No. 5 named after N. Ondasynov and No. 29, drew attention to the food in the cafeterias, considering that it is free for students in grades 1-4.

- Our children attend the first shift, so they are entitled to breakfast. But when my daughter sent me a photo of the soup that was served to the schoolchildren in the morning, I was perplexed. The next time for lunch in this cafeteria they served milk porridge, which had been served in the morning before. We contact the school food supplier, but she shrugs: she says that she does not develop the menu, but the city education department does for all the schools in the city, - say the parents of primary school students.

Indeed, the food supplier of school No. 5, Nazira OTEGULOVA, confirms this.

- We are obliged to follow this menu. Due to complaints from parents, I decided to make changes. The city education department allowed us to do this by 30 percent. We changed, made one dish for breakfast, and another for lunch. However, a commission from the ministry arrived, whose representatives pointed out the inadmissibility of this. Since last week, a new menu has been approved for us, - complains Nazira Otegulova.

But even with such a meager menu, suppliers complain about the too small amounts that the budget allocates for school meals. One student gets 535 tenge per day (excluding VAT). This amount includes one hot dish, salad, bread and compote. In order for children to eat well, suppliers ask to allocate at least 700-800 tenge per child.

By the way, back in November last year, the Minister of Education Gani BEYSEMBAYEV noted at a government meeting that the akimats of the Zhambyl, Mangistau, Almaty, Atyrau regions and Shymkent do not pay due attention to the organization of high-quality meals in schools. Before that, the ministry conducted a comprehensive assessment of their work at the local level. At the same time, the results of the monitoring of the quality of food, the material and technical equipment of canteens, the cost of food in the regions per student and the results of a survey of parents were taken into account. After that, the head of government demanded that all akims of the regions find resources for school meals, but, apparently, in the Mangistau region they decided not to focus on this problem and raised the cost of food by only 20 tenge, taking into account inflation.

The city education department notes that currently all Aktau schools are equipped with canteens. 16 entrepreneurs are engaged in catering in these institutions. In addition, five schools (No. 2, 7, 9, 12 and 20) operate on the public-private partnership model. Since the beginning of the new school year, about 26 thousand students of state comprehensive schools have been provided with free meals. Of these, 23,500 children in grades 1-4 and 2,500 students from grades 5-11 from low-income families receive free hot meals once a day.

- The menu is developed by our department together with a special commission, which includes nutritionists and technologists. After that, we discuss this menu with food suppliers. Before that, none of them complained about the developed menu. As for the price of food, it is true that we have the lowest. But again, it is not we who approve it, but the maslikhat. As for soup for breakfast, we will, of course, sort it out, - assured the head of the city education department Gani KURMANGALIYEV.

We do not rule out that the city will bring order to the school meals menu. But what to do with the complaints of parents who today say that even at the current price of 535 tenge, children are underfed and soups are simply savings on their nutrition? After all, every housewife knows that soup will cost the budget much less than a second course with salad. And what to do with the standard prospective menu that was announced at the beginning of this year by the sanitary and epidemiological control committee of the Ministry of Health?

In the main menu, specialists have provided meat, fish and vegetable dishes, salads and drinks with low sugar content. For the growth and development of children, as well as for the prevention of diseases, low-fat milk, fermented milk products were included in the diet, the amount of fruits was increased. But it is already clear that for Mangistau children all these products will remain only on paper.

Isn't it time for the competent authorities to sort out school meals and find out how and who is profiting from our children and how the same suppliers manage to win tenders year after year?

Langa CHERESHKAITE, Aktau