Xie Gang, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: Take the "last mile" well so that the "assured lunch" can benefit more families

In August 2021, the Provincial Department of Education and other 8 departments jointly issued guidance on the implementation of the "assured lunch" project in primary schools in urban areas of the province, requiring all localities to implement the "assured lunch" project from the autumn semester of 2021 to effectively help parents solve the problems of primary school students' lunch pick-up and drop-off difficulties and lunch cannot be guaranteed. According to the requirements of the document, all non-boarding primary schools in urban areas should achieve full coverage of the "assured lunch" project within 3 years.

First, the basic situation

According to incomplete statistics, nearly 70,000 primary school students in 7 cities such as Taiyuan, Jincheng and Linfen have enjoyed the "lunch with confidence". Judging from the results of the survey questionnaire, the satisfaction of schools, parents, students and enterprises is more than 95%, and the overall social satisfaction is high. It can be said that the "rest assured lunch" project has achieved important stage results, helping parents to greatly alleviate the problem of children's lunch break, this "lunch + lunch break + lunch activity service" model, is not only a real project to benefit the people, but also to promote the province's basic education to achieve high-quality development of effective practice.

Second, the current difficulties and problems

First of all, there are obvious shortcomings in the hardware facilities for lunch and lunch breaks on campus. Most public schools in the compulsory education stage do not consider the issue of student meals, do not build student canteens, or have limited capacity for students to provide meals. The survey found that the urban primary schools in Xinzhou City accepted 85% of the city's students with less than 20% of the number of schools in the city, and they were in a saturated and crowded state. Of the 104 primary schools in Linfen that meet the document requirements, only 8 can meet the needs of hardware facilities for lunch or lunch break.

Secondly, lunch delivery and nutritional collocation are prominent. In terms of lunch delivery, the number of delivery enterprises that meet the requirements in some places is small, and it is impossible to form a benign competition between enterprises through price and service; there are many intermediate links in the delivery of meals, a long chain of custody, and there are certain hidden dangers in food safety. In terms of nutrition collocation, in Zhejiang, Guangdong and other provinces that have implemented campus lunch projects, there are problems such as excessive supply of oil, salt and meat, and insufficient supply of vitamins and dietary fiber to varying degrees. "Rest assured lunch" is related to the children's physical health and growth and development needs, this project in our province has just started, we should plan ahead and plan as soon as possible.

Finally, the relevant fee standards still need to be standardized. Lunch costs between 10-12 yuan in various places, and it is recommended to further clarify the lunch standard and the amount of government subsidies. In terms of lunch break services, most schools do not have the conditions, and the specific charging standards are still blank. In terms of noon activities, some schools rely on existing resources to provide services such as homework tutoring, extracurricular reading, and art training, but the charging standards and specific content still need to be standardized from a higher level.

3. Policy recommendations

First of all, multi-channel to meet the rigid demand for primary school lunch. The first is to vigorously promote the upgrading of hardware facilities. On the basis of the existing basis, we will continue to find out the bottom number, and determine the criteria for the classification of the existing canteen restaurants and vacant venues in the school, "if it is appropriate to change, it is appropriate to build". The second is to coordinate and promote the provision of meals in the school canteen and the collective meals outside the school, actively explore the "central kitchen + satellite kitchen" for meals, and solve the problem of meal provision through multiple channels with the help of nearby school meals. The third is to focus on improving the healthy nutrition level of lunch. Refer to the standards of different age groups in the "Nutrition Guidelines for Student Meals", pay attention to nutritional collocation, strengthen nutritional interventions, and reasonably provide students with lunch. At the same time, combined with the nutritional health status of students, local eating habits and actual food supply, scientifically formulate meal recipes to achieve diverse dishes, changeable tastes and balanced nutrition.

Second, improve the supervision and inspection work mechanism. In the selection of catering enterprises, adhere to the healthy competition in accordance with laws and regulations, and introduce parent and media supervision in the process of bidding and daily supervision to ensure openness and transparency. As soon as possible, formulate and introduce standard procedures for meal preparation work, and achieve standardized operations in the whole process in the procurement and storage of raw materials, the monitoring of the kitchen, the responsibility of the distribution special person, and the on-site temperature measurement. In the daily operation, create a "bright kitchen stove", realize the "sunshine operation", and implement the whole process of monitoring the storage, processing, production, cleaning and disinfection of all aspects, so that students' parents and netizens can view the kitchen situation in real time through the mobile APP. At the same time, the education, market supervision and other departments take the lead, and invite parents and media to conduct spot checks without notice or notification from time to time.

Finally, we should pay close attention to clarifying the policy basis and related cost standards of the "assured lunch" project. The first is to strengthen the financial support guarantee, incorporate the "assured lunch" project into the financial budget at the same level, increase financial investment at the provincial and municipal levels, and ensure that the funds for the canteen renovation and expansion project, the student lunch subsidy, and the lunch break service personnel subsidy are issued in full and in a timely manner. The second is to establish food safety standards for the "assured lunch" project, promote the establishment of campus lunch supply enterprise access standards, catering enterprise workflow specifications, and jointly promote the establishment of a school food safety traceability system with the Food and Drug Administration. Third, when formulating the service charging standards for lunch and lunch breaks, it is necessary to fully consider the local prices and the income level of residents, and clarify the service matters, time, content, charging standards, etc. according to similar service items and fee levels in the society and make public announcements.

(Xie Gang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Vice President of Taiyuan University of Science and Technology)

【Source: Shanxi Provincial COMMITTEE_CPPCC Members Perform Their Duties】

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