“Aunty, it was so tasty,” begins Rachel Anitha Jacob and launches into an effusive account of what made the spaghetti pasta lip-smacking. The pasta was special for another reason — it had been served for lunch at her school. A student of APL Global School, nine-year-old Rachel had persuaded her parents to let her choose the ‘lunch option’ at the beginning of this academic year.
“Until the last academic year, I was only availing breakfast at school. There’s a lot of variety in food and eating with friends is fun,” says the student of class IV who is also the ‘lunch monitor’, a role that requires her to ensure all her group members complete their meal.
For students of many city schools, there is a lot to look forward to, during breakfast and lunch breaks.
Schools now emphasise healthy eating among their students and are making this rule palatable — literally. They make the nutritious food offered for breakfast and lunch attractive to the students by focusing on how it is made and displayed.
“Schools serving breakfast or lunch is not a new trend. Many international schools offer this option; now, CBSE and Matriculation schools are also increasingly doing it,” says K. R. Maalathi, educational consultant. She cites the example of SRM Public School, a CBSE school that opened this academic year.
“The canteen was initially meant to cater to teaching and non-teaching staff, but they soon extended it to the student community after parents started asking for such a facility,” she says.
Around 200 of the 750 students in the school are already availing the mid-morning snack and lunch, for which ₹65 is charged per day.
Healthy start
This initiative was initially aimed at helping children who start early to school and also those who travel far, but it’s a big bonus to working parents as they don’t have to worry about what to pack each day. While many institutions make it mandatory for children to have at least one meal at school, some offer an option. Many of these schools have the management and a nutritionist charting out a balanced menu for the month. At APL Global, the menu for the week is shared with parents in advance.
A few schools that find it difficult to maintain a kitchen have a tie-up with food start-ups that deliver lunchboxes to students at the school.
Pongal served with sambar is a favourite for many children at Chettinad Vidyashram, which started serving breakfast and lunch at its canteen a year after the school was established.
“For LKG and UKG students, it is mandatory to have breakfast at school as many of them skip breakfast at home as they have to rush to school. For the remaining classes, it’s optional. Of the 10,000 students, we have nearly 3,000 availing the option. The canteen fee can be paid on a term basis,” says school principal Amudha Lakshmi, adding that the teachers make sure children eat well.
At Savitri Ammal Oriental Higher Secondary School, a government-aided school in Mylapore, apart from the mid-day meals scheme of the State government, children staying behind for extra classes are served a healthy snack with contributions from donors. But, does setting up a kitchen help bring down consumption of junk food at canteens?
To some extent, say teachers and parents.
