Students complain of poor quality meals in schools

Students are getting poor quality of meals in school canteens. According to several students, they are forced to eat food lacking much-needed nutrients.
The food contains harmful preservatives and colors and are costly too, they say.
It has been observed that 65 percent of school students suffer from tooth caries, clearly indicating the lack of calcium in their foods. Parents have demanded speedy intervention by the Education Ministry in order to improve the nutritional standard of the food supplied in school canteens.
Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Naim, a researcher at the medical college at King Saud University, told Arab News that the low quality food supplied in school canteens is the reason why 65 percent of students suffer various tooth diseases while the rate of tooth diseases in schools in neighboring countries is only 10 percent.
Al-Naim said the studies also showed obesity was very high in Saudi students at the rate of one of every five students.
Studies have also shown that strong bone formation occurs between ages 6 and 18 and a healthy body requires not fewer than 1,000mg of calcium per day. In other words, a child who depends on milk for calcium should drink one liter of milk everyday.
Three students of the secondary level, Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, Anwar Al-Ghamdi and Fuad Khoja, said: “The canteen managers think only about their profits and pay scant attention to students’ health. The canteens are run by workers not specialized in nutrition and some of them do not even carry a health card. On the other hand, foriegn and international schools in the city prepare nutrition-rich food with delicious taste at low prices.”
Ezzam Al-Shegairi and Ahmed Foad, intermediate students, went a little further and said that the high prices of meals were a matter of concern to most students.
They also noted that many students go to nearby cafes to eat their breakfast before the morning assembly and are often late for classes. This is because there is no canteen supplying nutritious meals for them and that the canteen does not serve freshly cooked or warm food.
“People have forgotten the old adage about a healthy mind in a healthy body and school canteens in government schools do not rise to supplying healthy food with high nutritional value,” said educationist Abdullah Al-Ghamdi.
He stressed that the Education Ministry should take steps to make school canteens supply nutritious food or turn over the canteens to specialized nutrition companies. He said the prices of meals should be affordable to all students, regardless of their financial backgrounds.
The canteens should also be equipped and furnished like those in the international schools which attract students to eat their breakfast there instead of going to nearby cafes, he added.