Assalamualaikum.
Since completing my second year of Masters of Pharmacy course, I was encouraged to have to evaluate issues and controversies related to the world of health and healthcare services. Although Rancangan Makanan Tambahan (a program to encourage school children to have breakfasts and healthy diet) is not really have anything to do with me at the moment, but as I had experienced it in the past, therefore I always consider myself part of it.
During my time, the food was served early in the morning, and the selected pupils were required to go to the canteen before entering respective classes. We were even given permission to skip the daily assembly (which is the best part of RMT. Hehehe). Reflecting on my experience when I was in Standard 5 and 6 in one of numerous primary schools in my hometown, I would have to say that, 9 out 10 incidents, the foods served were 'rubbish'. I remember that, I always skipped the meals, and had to be dragged out of my class by prefects (and sometimes the teacher in charge with the program) to take my meal of the morning. It was very annoying to have to eat something you don't really think worth taking it. But that happens to me and most of the other pupils. Most of the time, the food would be too salty, too sour, tasteless, and in some cases, the food wasn't cooked properly. Still, my colleagues and me have to finish the food (not really :-p).
After I left the school, I found out that the school shifted the 'eating' period from early in the morning to the 'recess time'. When I visited the school one day after SPM, I managed to see the pupils eating the similar food I had to take during their recess period, and even 'interviewed' several of them. The result of my brief Q&A session was as I expected. Most of them felt disappointed with the quality of the foods and a few of them agreed on my suggestion, 'better starving than taking the foods'. I'm not sure whether the incident is still the same or it has changed nowadays.
A few months before, I heard my aunty was having a chit-chat with my parent. She is a caterer for one school canteen in the northen Kedah. She said, that the school had offered her to cater foods and drinks for the RMT program. From their long and unstoppable chatting, I acknowledged that the budget for the program is insufficient for her to prepare good foods. She always has to 'top-up' with her own money to provide better foods to the kids. She even told my mother that some of her friends who also cater foods for RMT program did unethical deeds. They purposely reduce the amount of ingredients of the servings in order to gain profit for themselves. From that point, I made up my conclusion on why the foods were always bad.
The kids involved, mostly came from low-income family, were not comfortable to attend the 'feast'. As I had experience knowing them, I'll share a story of 3 siblings, who went to the school walking for more than 5Km. Although this would be considered as common by our 'old folks', but I would say these kids are really poor as I cycled to school. They usually arrived late to school, and I remember constantly seeing them collecting rubbish (mostly dried leaves) around the school compound as the penalty for arriving late. They would always missed the first 30 minutes of the teaching hours due to having to serve the (almost) daily penalty and attending the 'junkfood' feasts. What about me? I will always finish the food. Based on my judgments on the first bite, the foods were either in my stomach or in the dustbin. Then, I'll rush to the class, often having to ask my friends for what I had missed. I had several times, asking the teacher to exclude my name from the RMT list, suggesting that I already had my breakfast at home almost everyday before coming to school, but my pleas were ignored each time I raised that issue.
RMT is a very good program, and I fully support it. But there are a lot more to be done, numerous improvements needed. I am happy to address the idea of increasing the financial budget for the program and assigning officers to maintain the high quality of the foods, and prevent illicit 'jerks' from gaining unethical profits. I supported the idea of giving foods to the kids during their recess period, so that they would not have to suffer rushing moments like I did, don't have to skip daily assembly (although this would be...) , and they will have better diets everyday.
Wassalam...
Since completing my second year of Masters of Pharmacy course, I was encouraged to have to evaluate issues and controversies related to the world of health and healthcare services. Although Rancangan Makanan Tambahan (a program to encourage school children to have breakfasts and healthy diet) is not really have anything to do with me at the moment, but as I had experienced it in the past, therefore I always consider myself part of it.
During my time, the food was served early in the morning, and the selected pupils were required to go to the canteen before entering respective classes. We were even given permission to skip the daily assembly (which is the best part of RMT. Hehehe). Reflecting on my experience when I was in Standard 5 and 6 in one of numerous primary schools in my hometown, I would have to say that, 9 out 10 incidents, the foods served were 'rubbish'. I remember that, I always skipped the meals, and had to be dragged out of my class by prefects (and sometimes the teacher in charge with the program) to take my meal of the morning. It was very annoying to have to eat something you don't really think worth taking it. But that happens to me and most of the other pupils. Most of the time, the food would be too salty, too sour, tasteless, and in some cases, the food wasn't cooked properly. Still, my colleagues and me have to finish the food (not really :-p).
After I left the school, I found out that the school shifted the 'eating' period from early in the morning to the 'recess time'. When I visited the school one day after SPM, I managed to see the pupils eating the similar food I had to take during their recess period, and even 'interviewed' several of them. The result of my brief Q&A session was as I expected. Most of them felt disappointed with the quality of the foods and a few of them agreed on my suggestion, 'better starving than taking the foods'. I'm not sure whether the incident is still the same or it has changed nowadays.
A few months before, I heard my aunty was having a chit-chat with my parent. She is a caterer for one school canteen in the northen Kedah. She said, that the school had offered her to cater foods and drinks for the RMT program. From their long and unstoppable chatting, I acknowledged that the budget for the program is insufficient for her to prepare good foods. She always has to 'top-up' with her own money to provide better foods to the kids. She even told my mother that some of her friends who also cater foods for RMT program did unethical deeds. They purposely reduce the amount of ingredients of the servings in order to gain profit for themselves. From that point, I made up my conclusion on why the foods were always bad.
The kids involved, mostly came from low-income family, were not comfortable to attend the 'feast'. As I had experience knowing them, I'll share a story of 3 siblings, who went to the school walking for more than 5Km. Although this would be considered as common by our 'old folks', but I would say these kids are really poor as I cycled to school. They usually arrived late to school, and I remember constantly seeing them collecting rubbish (mostly dried leaves) around the school compound as the penalty for arriving late. They would always missed the first 30 minutes of the teaching hours due to having to serve the (almost) daily penalty and attending the 'junkfood' feasts. What about me? I will always finish the food. Based on my judgments on the first bite, the foods were either in my stomach or in the dustbin. Then, I'll rush to the class, often having to ask my friends for what I had missed. I had several times, asking the teacher to exclude my name from the RMT list, suggesting that I already had my breakfast at home almost everyday before coming to school, but my pleas were ignored each time I raised that issue.
RMT is a very good program, and I fully support it. But there are a lot more to be done, numerous improvements needed. I am happy to address the idea of increasing the financial budget for the program and assigning officers to maintain the high quality of the foods, and prevent illicit 'jerks' from gaining unethical profits. I supported the idea of giving foods to the kids during their recess period, so that they would not have to suffer rushing moments like I did, don't have to skip daily assembly (although this would be...) , and they will have better diets everyday.
Wassalam...
No comments:
Post a Comment