CHENNAI: Those petty shops outside school premises and vendors selling vadas, candies and ice creams in pushcarts at street corners in the vicinity may soon become a thing of the past, as the TN School Education Department has instructed all State-run educational institutions to take steps to ensure that they don’t permit children consume food from these ‘unhygienic’ places.
In a circular sent to headmasters of all these schools recently, the department has instructed them to take the help of local authorities to drive out these vendors. It also asked teachers to advise students not to consume eatables from those shops and vendors.
This move is a step ahead of the decision by the Centre restricting sale of junk food on the school premises by management-run canteens. Moving forward, the State has banned petty shops and push carts selling similar products in the vicinity of campuses.
Also, food that is distributed to students on special occasions by outsiders (NGOs or Corporate) would also come under government scanner.
“Teachers have been instructed to ensure that the food is safe and is of suitable quality before it is distributed to students,” said a senior School Education Department official.
Earlier this year, all anganwadis preparing food (under free noon-meal scheme) were inspected for food safety standards.
This move to ensure minimum food safety requirements was initiated by the government after a death of a 12-year-old child at the Sainik School in Tirupur due to food poisoning. Earlier, 70 children from a government-aided school in Thoothukudi were admitted in hospital for suspected food poisoning last year.
Welcoming this, S Aarthi, a parent of a middle school student in Kelambakkam said, “While we take so much care to provide nutritious food to our children, they fall sick after eating unhealthy products sold at shops at a walking distance from school. Since it is hard to keep a check outside the campus, it is better to ban them.”
Though health experts have also supported this, they also opined that children’s health largely depended on what was packed in students’ lunch boxes.
“Lot of young parents these days do not have time in the morning to give a healthy breakfast. Hence, they give them fast food which will make them weak and obese,” said paediatrician M Singavelu. As such, banning petty shops alone would not solve the problem, he added.