Bon appetit: more than 80% of Russians support the introduction of free meals in primary schools

The quality of the children’s menu is monitored by parents, the school, and the state.

In order for children in our country to not be distracted by everyday trifles, all schools in Russia are undergoing renovations, opening classrooms with modern equipment, and renovating canteens. In the new school year, free hot meals are provided to all students from 1st to 4th grade without exception. You can have a tasty meal at least once during the school day. At the same time, it can be either lunch or breakfast. The main thing is that there is a hot dish on the menu.

What and when schoolchildren will eat, each school decides for itself, based on the recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor and doctors, as well as regulatory documents. The menu is developed by technologists in accordance with the diet – separate for breakfast and lunch. Basic principle: balance and variety. It is especially important to have meat and fish, dairy products and fruits on the menu. In addition, some children receive two free meals a day. These are schoolchildren from low-income families and students with disabilities – for example, disabled children. In recent years, catering units in schools have noticeably changed: light walls, new tables, convenient distribution and beautiful plates. Everything is done to make eating not only tasty, but also enjoyable.

“We couldn’t enter the dining room without tears. The hand wash basins didn’t work at all, and the tables were always sticky. The food also looked unappealing. The daughter mostly bought buns or brought sandwiches from home. But such a “dry food” can ruin your eating behavior; your stomach won’t say “thank you” either. The younger one was luckier – now they have a fresh repairman and hot food,” says Elena Anzhieva, a resident of the city of Borovichi, Novgorod Region.

The importance of school nutrition cannot be overstated. Even an adult finds it difficult to concentrate if he is hungry, and what can we say about a child, whose task before coming to school was only to “sleep well and eat well.” The editors of Moskovsky Komsomolets decided to find out how parents feel about the introduction of free meals in elementary schools. The results of the open survey were simply stunning! The overwhelming majority, 81%, of Russians supported the initiative, and another 8% responded that they “more likely support it than not.”

These assessments coincide with the data of a survey on the attitude of Russians to a number of innovations in Russian schools, conducted by the Expert Institute of Social Research (EISR) commissioned by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). Among all aspects of the educational process, it was free hot meals for primary school students that received absolute support from Russians. During the survey, 95% called this decision rather correct.

This result is not surprising, since new dishes in cafeterias are now under close control. From May 1, the government changed the procedure for compiling school menus. Now contracting companies that are responsible for students’ diets need to negotiate it with the management of educational institutions. Additionally, the need to coordinate dietary nutrition is prescribed if one of the students needs it. In addition, the contents of the diet now need to be discussed separately for each age group of schoolchildren. And the compliance of the menu with all standards is monitored by the Federal Center for Monitoring Student Nutrition, created under the Ministry of Education of Russia. Monitoring of what children eat is carried out automatically in all schools thanks to the posting of the daily menu on the school website. And of course this is important for parental control of school meals.

The school nutrition operational headquarters constantly identifies the best practices in organizing school nutrition. To disseminate best practices, the Ministry annually holds the All-Russian competition “Best School Canteen” and competitions for the best school canteen cook. This year the competition will take place from November 10 to 13 in the capital of North Ossetia – Vladikavkaz.

“It is part of government policy to take care of people in areas where additional efforts are needed. Nutritious nutrition for schoolchildren is necessary, and we already have such experience. It is positive, all schools in Russia are connected to the hot meals program. But we need to go further and make sure that absolutely all students can receive hot meals during the school day. However, we need to move towards this progressively. There is a strong-willed decision by the president on this topic. But these are financially intensive solutions; they need to be gradually integrated into the system. Of course, parents will support such decisions,” said State Duma deputy, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education Alena Arshinova.

Earlier, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin emphasized that everything necessary must be done to make it comfortable for Russian children to gain knowledge in the new school year.

“The President instructed to provide primary schoolchildren with free hot meals. It was introduced in stages. Students in grades 1–4 now have the opportunity to have lunch or breakfast at the school. Moreover, the food should be healthy, high quality, and tasty. From September 1 of this year, Russian schools in each region should receive federal funding for these purposes,” Mishustin noted.

The Chairman of the Russian Government also drew attention to the fact that it is very important to involve parents in monitoring the quality of free hot meals for schoolchildren. In addition, to coordinate the work, an operational headquarters was created to organize free hot meals for students, which also made it possible to ensure the coordinated work of all participants in the process. In total, from September 1, 2023, 100% coverage of primary school students in state and municipal schools with hot meals has been ensured, which is about 7.7 million children.

Issues of school nutrition are relevant not only for our country. Thus, on the initiative of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, which chairs the Commonwealth of Independent States this year, the first School Nutrition Forum in the history of the CIS will be held in Bishkek at the end of November. Delegations from all countries of the Commonwealth are invited to participate in it. As we see, Russia has something worthy to show on this platform and, if necessary, to help friends and neighbors.

Photo: Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation