Thousands of Mykolaiv schoolchildren refuse free meals

Since the beginning of the new school year in Mykolaiv, more than four thousand students have refused free meals at schools. According to the head of the city's education department, Anna Lychko, this is about 20% of the total number of schoolchildren who are entitled to free meals.

She told about this in a commentary for the publication "MikVisti".

This situation arose against the backdrop of a scandal caused by parents' complaints about the quality and organization of meals, in particular, at the Mykola Arkas Lyceum. The scandal at the lyceum became public when parents began posting outrageous photos and videos on social media. The pictures showed very small portions that did not correspond to the stated weight on the menu. In addition, the video shows how food is brought to the school not in thermal containers, but in ordinary plastic buckets.

Even more outrage was caused by a video where, according to parents, a school canteen worker poured the remains of buckwheat porridge from students' plates into a common container to serve it to other children again. According to sanitary standards, such food should be disposed of immediately. These facts made many parents refuse to use the school canteen.

On her Facebook page, the mother of one of the students shared a photo of a portion from the menu, which indicated the weight of the dish. She emphasized that even visually, without weighing it, it was obvious that the portion was much smaller than stated in the document.

Last year, about 8,000 students received free meals , and this year almost 21,000 are scheduled to receive free meals : about 8,000 in elementary school, 9,000 in grades 5-8, and 4,000 in high school. Lychko emphasized that the organization of the process creates an additional burden for the heads of educational institutions, as it is necessary to take into account the capacity of shelters and ensure that all children have time to eat during the school day.

In addition, Dmytro Vashnyak, acting director of the municipal production enterprise for school catering, noted that this year's menu includes updated dishes that meet the standards of the Yevhen Klopotenko system and are approved by the Ministry of Health.

Катерина Глушко