NUTRITION FESTIVAL DAY, SUMMARY OF THE PILOT PROGRAM ON NUTRITIOUS AND SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL FOODS FOR THE PERIOD 2022-2024

NUTRITION FESTIVAL DAY, SUMMARY OF THE PILOT PROGRAM ON NUTRITIOUS AND SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL FOODS FOR THE PERIOD 2022-2024

On November 30, 2024, at Nam Trung Yen Secondary School, under the direction and coordination of the Department of Education and Training of Cau Giay District, C&E Center successfully organized the Nutrition Festival Day to summarize the activities of the project “Pilot program of nutritious and sustainable school food” with the abbreviated name of the “Good Food At School” Project for the period 2022 – 2024.


The program had the participation of Mr. Doan Tien Trung – Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Cau Giay District; Ms. Do Thi Mai Oanh – specialist of the Department of Education and Training of Cau Giay District; Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Nhung – Head of the Department of School and Professional Nutrition, National Institute of Nutrition; Ms. Duong Thu Hang – coordinator of the project “Good Food At School”, Rikolto in Vietnam; Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Thuy – Director of C&E Center; Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vice Principal of Nam Trung Yen Secondary School; Ms. Nguyen Thi Ban – Vice Principal of Yen Hoa Secondary School with teachers and parents from 13 secondary schools in Cau Giay District, representatives of Vietnamese Meals Kitchen, and representatives of the NIFAM project.


The “Nutrition Festival Day” consists of two main parts: a seminar summarizing the 2022-2024 period and experiential activities for students such as a project product display corner, various booths, and fun, educational games. These activities attracted the participation of a large number of students, parents and delegates. Students expressed special interest in the activity of exchanging trash for green gifts, which are small ornamental plants grown in used bottles, jars and paper boxes. Students were able to decorate their own small potted plants with tools prepared by the Organizing Committee. Students enthusiastically participated in the activity of safe and nutritious food through the activity of learning about the path of food and answering related questions.
At the seminar, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Thuy – Director of C&E Center shared the journey of nearly 3 years with the positive results achieved by the project “Good Food At School” (2022-2024) at two pilot schools, Nam Trung Yen Secondary School and Yen Hoa Secondary School with the support of the Department of Education and Training and the school’s board of directors, teachers, parents, kitchen staff, medical staff and food suppliers of the two schools.


Firstly, the monitoring and implementation mechanism for school nutrition issues has been improved. Specifically, the Coordination Board and Core Group were established in two schools with the participation of diverse stakeholders such as teachers, parents, kitchen staff, etc. Special attention was paid to collaborating with experts from the Institute of Nutrition to develop a menu that is suitable for students in terms of both nutrition and taste. Due to the limited budget of public schools for each meal, it is difficult to ensure international or regional standards. However, the menu that the project built is still close to reality and suitable for the two schools. The food quality monitoring process has been synthesized with additional consultation from the Department of Education and experts to incorporate some environmental issues such as food waste.
Second, it is to raise awareness of students, teachers, parents and school staff about school nutrition. Specifically, the reference book series on food and nutrition developed by the project was integrated into the educational program of Nam Trung Yen and Yen Hoa secondary schools and was taught in class. The set of documents includes 5 reference books for students and 1 document for teachers with simple, easy-to-understand content, presented in the form of interesting stories and games, close to students. Some other activities organized such as painting, golden bell contest, cooking pho, making fruit yogurt, making salad related to food issues have been carried out by the 2 schools over the past 3 years. Nutrition clubs organize activities with many different topics. The project organized an extracurricular session for 100 students from the 2 schools to go to Tue Vien Organic Farm to learn about the origin of food. And especially there was an online sharing event about traditional dishes between students of Nam Trung Yen Secondary School and students of Sancta Maria Secondary School from Belgium.

Nutrition expert Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Nhung shared: “People often think that “Children are bottomless buckets” that can eat and drink freely and never have disorders. That is the dangerous problem. All ages can only tolerate a certain amount. If they are fed twice the amount they need, leading to overweight, obesity, and metabolic disorders, children can also suffer from serious diseases just like adults”. Having unhealthy eating and living habits starting from school days will gradually accumulate into serious diseases. Therefore, there are cases where children are very young but have severe metabolic disorders. The “Good food at school” project, like other school nutrition programs, starts with a survey, assessing meal needs, assessing practical knowledge, and then planning interventions. The intervention program starts with nutrition education first and intervention in meals is the next stage. Only when all parents, teachers and students are aware of the importance of school nutrition can they change their daily meals.


Representative of the Department of Education and Training of Cau Giay District, Ms. Do Thi Mai Oanh, acknowledged the active participation of Nam Trung Yen and Yen Hoa Secondary Schools in the project. She suggested that propaganda work should be promoted so that the project can be improved when expanding to schools in Cau Giay District: “We suggest that the project board should produce more videos highlighting the benefits of using food correctly and the consequences of unscientific consumption. In addition to creating more videos about school nutrition, it is recommended to integrate awareness content into flag-raising ceremonies at schools. Medical staff and the school’s communications department need to work closely with the project so that the project can be more successful and develop further.”


A representative of Yen Hoa Secondary School shared that after 3 years of accompanying the project, the school has achieved some positive results such as students have learned the benefits of consuming more green vegetables in their meals, knowing how to avoid foods that are unsafe for health, and limiting foods that cause overweight and obesity. Through practical experience activities, students know how to prepare ingredients, how to cook their own dishes, how to grow organic vegetables, and how to use organic fertilizers. Ms. Le Thi Thu Ha – Head teacher of class 7A8 said: “Students have become aware of which foods they should eat the most and the amount of green vegetables left over in school meals is less than before. Maybe many of them don’t really like eating vegetables, but after 1 year, the students have become aware of eating more vegetables and eating less fried foods. The children also know how to recycle and use garbage, take care of trees through “Becoming food heroes”, learning about the “Journey of food” from planting, caring for to eating. The children know that throwing away leftover food is very harmful to the environment and is a waste of food, so they have recycled food and created eye-catching, interesting and equally delicious products.


The seminar also had the participation of Ms. Nguyen Le Thu Ha – representative of the NIFAM project, who shared some information about school gardens. This can be a great visual aid to educate children about nutrition, create a landscape for the school and be a tool to teach career guidance such as agriculture, clean food, while also providing creative and positive experiences.


At the end of the program, the project handed over a toolkit including reference documents, nutrition posters, height measuring rulers and project communication products to the delegates.
“Nutrition Festival Day” ended in a joyful and exciting atmosphere of delegates, teachers and students of Yen Hoa and Nam Trung Yen Secondary Schools. After 3 years of implementation, the initial results of the “Good Food at School ” project have created a solid foundation for the parties to continue expanding to other schools in Cau Giay District, with the desire to contribute to spreading healthy, nutritious and sustainable eating habits to students and the whole community. In the next two years 2025-2026, the project will reach students of Mai Dich and Nghia Tan Secondary Schools, promising to bring interesting and useful experiences.