Nam Dinh is going to deploy the School Meal Project
On July 27th, 2018, Nam Dinh Department of Education and Training cooperated with Ajinomoto Vietnam to hold a conference on implementing the “Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software” for 61 primary boarding schools in the whole province. At the conference, Dr. Ngu Duy Anh - Head of Physical Education Department - Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) directly guided schools on using the software effectively.
Mr. Ha Ngoc Phuoc – North East Branch Manager, Ajinomoto Vietnam was sharing the School Meal Project’s goals
Chu Van An Primary School – Hanoi is applying the “Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software” in boarding menu preparation.
A boarding ration of pupils at Chu Van An Primary School (Hanoi) prepared based on the software
With simply and modern design, boarding staff not competent in computer skills still can use the whole properties of the software
The nutritional needs of children of school age play an important role in ensuring not only the overall development of them but also their diverse physical activities and learning capabilities. This is also the stage children’s body accumulates essential nutrients to prepare for the rapid development at puberty. Therefore, having a scientific diet in daily meals is especially important, which is the basis for the comprehensive development of stature, physical strength and intellect.
However, many primary boarding schools still encounter various difficulties in organizing lunches due to the limitation in nutritional knowledge and experience in building menus meeting nutritional needs and fitting the monthly budget as well.
Grasping this issue and wishing to share difficulties with schools in the boarding work, Ajinomoto Vietnam researched and initiated the School Meal Project in 2012. With practical meanings, the Project has received close collaborations from leading specialized organizations in nutrition in the activities of research and survey of actual nutritional condition and eating habits of primary pupils, thereby providing close professional consultancy, typically the National Institute of Nutrition - Ministry of Health.
The “Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software” is one of the important contents within the Project’s framework. The software provides a plentiful menu bank of 120 menus with over 360 non-repeatable dishes divided into the 3 regions of North, Central and South. The software also helps schools to create new menus by combining dishes available in the menu bank or by using local ingredients; check the nutrition of currently-used menus; calculate and manage pupils’ meal expenses.
In addition to the software, the poster of “3 minutes to change awareness” is also deployed to schools. as a tool for educating pupils on nutritional knowledge. With nutritional knowledge illustrated vividly and visually, this is a useful tool for schools to educate children on nutritional knowledge.
Ajinomoto Vietnam and the Project also construct “Model Kitchens” of Japanese standard. In May 2018, the second “Model Kitchen” was inaugurated at Hoang Van Thu Primary School – Lang Son. Besides assisting schools in efficiently implementing the boarding work, the kitchen is also a model for schools in the area to visit, study and apply in accordance with the practical situation of each place.
Shortly after the conference, Ajinomoto Vietnam’s staff in charge of the Project will visit each school to directly guide and answer questions related to the software’s usage in menu preparation.
Until June 2018, there have been 2,910 primary boarding schools throughout the country applying the “Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software” as well as the poster of “3 minutes to change awareness”. With practical meanings, Ajinomoto Vietnam expects the Project to be spread, contributing to addressing the school nutrition condition and enhancing the education and training quality.