Assistance for School Canteen Vendors to Offset Rising Costs

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has conducted any feasibility studies on providing direct subsidies to school canteen vendors to offset rising costs of procuring healthier ingredients and compliance with nutritional guidelines; (b) if not, what are the reasons for not considering direct financial support to these vendors; and (c) what specific measures are currently in place to ensure that price controls do not compromise the quality and nutritional value of meals provided to students.

Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Education amid the closure of some food stalls in school canteens (a) whether the Ministry is studying the impact of a lack of access to quality, affordable food in school canteens on children across socio-economic backgrounds; (b) how does the Ministry intend to address the nutritional needs of children from lower socio-economic backgrounds during school hours; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider (i) Government-funded freshly packed meals through central kitchen catering or (ii) mandating onsite kitchens in schools staffed by hired workers.

The Minister for Education (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to address two oral Parliamentary Questions (PQs) by Mr Louis Chua and Ms He Ting Ru for today’s Sitting, and another PQ by Mr Yip Hon Weng 1 scheduled for a subsequent Sitting, together?

And I invite Members to seek clarification following my response, if any.

Mr Speaker: Please proceed.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Members may wish to refer to our previous responses to Parliamentary Questions raised by Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim on 12 September 2022, Ms Ng Ling Ling on 3 October 2022 and Mr Edward Chia on 6 November 2023, on the same matter.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) works with schools to monitor canteen food quality, quantity and prices. Canteen stallholders are required to serve meals that adhere to the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB's) guidelines, which require a balanced diet covering the four main food groups: carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables and fruits. This approach is designed to meet the nutritional needs of children and support their growth and development. Individual stallholders are charged rentals of between $5 and $15 per month. Rentals are waived during the school holiday period. To help stallholders keep their business costs sustainable, MOE also regularly reviews the food pricing guidelines for schools, so that stallholders can continue to provide healthy and affordable meals for students.

Students from lower-income families on MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) receive school meal subsidies. Schools are also given additional funds to provide further assistance to students who need more help, and they have been doing so.

From time to time, some schools have difficulty finding stallholders to fill vacant stalls and this may become more challenging in the future as more of the incumbent stallholders retire. In anticipation of such challenges, MOE is discussing with schools which are keen and ready, to adopt a different canteen operating model. For example, meals can be pre-ordered and prepared at a central kitchen before they are delivered to schools. This model has been piloted at Yusof Ishak Secondary School and shown to be effective. Where there are existing stallholders impacted by such a transition, schools will help by referring them to nearby schools or recommending them for employment by the central kitchen operator.

MOE and schools would also like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the dedicated service of all our stallholders who have served and are still serving our students and staff today.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Chua.

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Two supplementary questions for the Minister. First, on the nutritional values aspect of it, has the Government or Ministry conducted any studies on the percentage of food that actually meets the nutritional guidelines and adherence with HPB's requirements?

Second, in terms of the financial sustainability concerns by individual stallholders, some schools have already entered into a catering model given economies of scale by such operators and it is also easier by the School Management Committee to monitor the nutritional values of the meals. So, in light of this, would the Minister consider reviewing the current decentralised canteen management model? And what are MOE's concerns about further scaling this up to other schools, given that there is already this central kitchen model which Minister mentioned just now?

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first supplementary question, MOE works with HPB to regularly review the quality of the food provided by the canteen operators. Where they are found to be wanting, we will immediately review the situation with the canteen operators and take remedial action.

On the second question, as to the scale and the speed of the scaling up of the central kitchen delivery model, it will very much depend on the circumstances of the various schools. Different schools have different needs, and we will make the necessary transitions according to the different needs of the schools.

Mr Speaker: Ms He.

Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to address a couple of points in my supplementary questions. The first relates to vending machines. I refer to The Straits Times article that was published recently where they referred to some schools having to resort to using vending machines to provide meals for students. I would like to ask the Minister about the view of MOE about the desirability of using vending machines? And whether the Minister would agree that having to resort to vending machines is an indication that there should be concerns about the sustainability of the current model of providing food in schools?

Secondly, I think I would like to press a little bit more on the nutritional value of food. Just to ask a supplementary question about whether MOE has any programme or plans to get input from professional nutritionists to better understand the needs of our students, particularly those from lower socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds to make sure that food is tasty and culturally appropriate. After all, this is an opportunity to invest in the health of our future generations – both physical health and also for mental health.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, the use of vending machine is one out of many options that we employ to provide options for both food and drinks for our schools. So, of course there must be a reason why we have used vending machines for certain schools. Most of the vending machines are for drinks so that we can reduce the manpower required to serve in our canteens and we can have the rest of the manpower available to have hot meals for our students.

But as I said before, we will explore a plethora of options. This includes the conventional options of having stall operators provide cooked meals onsite. It can include vending machines, but most of the vending machines are for snacks and drinks. And then, there will also be options of a central kitchen delivery model.

So, we will use all models to provide various options for the different schools, according to their different needs.

On the second question, actually the best nutritionist that we can get are the people from HPB and they are regularly working with MOE to make sure that our students get healthy and nutritional meals throughout their time in the school.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yip Hon Weng.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister for his reply. Two supplementary questions. Regarding the idea of a school-based meal programme similar to Japan's, could the Ministry share any preliminary considerations or challenges identified in implementing such a model in Singapore?

And second, in view of the rising ingredient costs, has the Ministry explored collaborations with local farms or producers to supply fresh, nutritious ingredients at a reduced cost to school canteens?

Mr Chan Chun Sing: Mr Speaker, Sir, can I deal with the second supplementary question first? We will try what we can to help our stallholders to get the most cost-effective produce for their stalls. This may include local farms, it may include overseas farms. I think our concern is not so much whether it is local or foreign. Our primary concern is to make sure that the produce acquired, purchased, is suitable for the school, for the vendors, and also that it is cost-effective.

So, we are open to purchasing whether it is a local produce or overseas produce. We very much leave these operation decisions to the canteen stall operators.

On the first supplementary questions about what we can learn from Japan, I think the cultural context is quite different. In many of the Japanese schools that I have seen, they do not have the type of canteens that we have in the schools as they certainly do not have so many canteen operators like what we have in our schools.

And they also have this culture of many of the children bringing their own bento sets to school, prepared at home. This is something that many of our students also do. They do bring snacks and they do bring food from home.

There is another difference between the many Japanese schools and the Singapore schools. Most of the Japanese schools do not have such big canteens like us, dedicated for the consumption of meals. And that is why in many of the Japanese schools, the children have their bento sets, they eat their snacks or their lunch in their classrooms and they clean up after themselves. So, this is quite different from the models that we have.

Certainly, in terms of civic responsibility, we can learn much from the Japanese in how the children come together to take care of their school environment, including keeping their classrooms clean, even though they consume food within their classrooms.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 1-2:

1 Question subsequently withdrawn: To ask the Minister for Education in light of school canteens facing challenges providing students with affordable and nutritious meals, whether the Ministry has considered implementing a school lunch programme similar to Japan's, where students are provided with nutritious and affordable meals prepared and served by the school, ensuring consistent access to healthy food options.