Until March 2018, 2,910 primary boarding schools nationwide have been applying the Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software in their daily menu preparation for pupils.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hieu - Head of Central Branch - Representative of Ajinomoto Vietnam

On the morning of April 24th, 2018, Dak Lak was officially the next province to implement the School Meal Project. Specifically, the Department of Education and Training (DOET) of Dak Lak in collaboration with Ajinomoto Vietnam held a conference on deploying the Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software to 81 local primary boarding schools under the direct guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training’s representative.

The Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software was initiated by Ajinomoto Vietnam and deployed in cooperation with the National Institute of Nutrition – the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training in order to provide and develop nutrition- balanced, diverse and delicious menus, and support the boarding meals management. The software can be accessed without fee on the Project’s website: www.buaanhocduong.com.vn. Each primary boarding school registers for an account to have full access to the software’s functions.

The software provides schools with a diverse menu bank including 120 available menus with over 360 non-repeatable lunch dishes that are nutrition-balanced based on age needs of pupils, diverse and tasty, and are divided into three regions: the North, the Central and the South. Besides, the software can support schools to create new menus by combining available dishes in the menu bank or choosing suitable ingredients in the local area; check schools’ current menus’ nutrition and help them calculate and manage the expenses of pupils’ meals effectively. 

It is known that soon after the conference, primary schools in the province can start registering their accounts to use the software for free. Moreover, Ajinomoto Vietnam’s staffs in charge of the Project also make schedules to visit each school to directly guide and answer questions related to the use of the software in menu preparation.
Apart from the convenient software, the Project also aims to change the nutritional awareness of pupils through the poster of "Three minutes to change awareness" that offers lively nutritional knowledge. 

Under the framework of the School Meal Project, Ajinomoto Vietnam also sponsors the construction of the Japanese standard boarding kitchen model at Trung Trac Primary School (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City). The second standard kitchen model under the sponsorship of Japanese Government will be brought into operation at Hoang Van Thu Primary School (Lang Son Province). The model kitchens are built to give other primary boarding schools in the areas chances to visit, learn and apply in accordance with the reality of each school.