Plan of Investigation

My group selected ‘Problems in The School System’ and I will be focusing on the
‘Provisions for Lunch’ because it is observed that students of the Belair High
School are complaining about the school’s cafeteria not being able to provide them
with lunch on time because there are not enough servers. The café ‘ran out of food’
and the prices of the lunches are expensive. Another problem are the food choices
on the school’s menu, they are not healthy for the students.
As a student of English, I expect in conducting this research to learn
new words, to structure sentences appropriately, to express myself through writing,
I also expect to enhance, improve my research skills and most importantly have a
better understanding of the problems that students are facing in the school. I hope
in carrying out this research, I will know how to accost the school’s board in
decoding the problem that is being carried out in the school.
I intend to collect relevant information by conducting interviews which
will be videotaped or recorded from students about the school’s system. I also
intend to obtain information from the internet as well as the newspaper in order to
provide useful source of information. For the oral presentation, a speech will be
done. It discusses the problems with the schools lunch system and how it can be
solved in the school and a review of my experience in carrying out the School
Based Assessment for the year 2017.
 First Reflection

The topic ‘Problems with the School System’ and how they affect the students
and their performance was chosen because it is acknowledged that the school
system is failing and that it needs to be rectified. The problem I chose was
‘Provisions for Lunch’ because observations have been made about the
population of the school making complaints about the lunch periods during the
week. School nutrition should promote healthy eating among children in order to
develop nutritious patterns. This also aids in intellectual development while
preventing immediate health problems such as anemia and obesity. School
administrators have the challenge of raising the standard of the meals served to
encourage lifelong healthy eating habits and to empower communities to play a
part in assisting with a school nutrition programme.
Having researched my sources from the internet, my thoughts
on the topic have remained because it is a general problem which majority of the
schools in Jamaica encounter. I think schools should start planning training for
canteen staff to get a nutritious and interesting programme ready for the new
school year, to make sufficient amount of food so that each student can receive
what they want and also staff who are quick in serving so that the lunch lines
doesn’t have to be long. Affordable and reliable programs that have been
designed to promote healthy school meals should be replicated in the coming
school year. Apart from the nutritional value, the programme can inspire
communities to draw on their skills and resources to transform the lives of
children in schools, communities and country.
 Second Reflection
In reviewing and analyzing the sources of data, a number of language devices were
identified. In the first source “School Canteen as an Affordable Alternative”,
personification was highlighted when the writer indicated “My mind struggles….”
As she expresses why schools think that fast food is the right choice for students in
the middle of the learning day. Exaggeration was another language device that was
highlighted when the writer states “Many schools have such high prices literally
breaking the pockets of the students….”which is referring to it worse than how it
really is
Secondly, in the article “Poverty Keeps Children At Home”, it shows statistics
as the writer collects the data of primary schools attendance rate, “Reliable
authority is shown as the writer states that researchers have examined hundreds of
primary schools attendance decreasing
Finally, in the article “PATH Pains” emotive words are expressed, “as they
struggle to find more money to fund meals for students….” This expresses the
administrators strive to allow students to be able to receive lunches on the
Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH)
 School Canteen as an Affordable Alternative

Published: Thursday | September 3, 2015 |The Gleaner

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Back to school is upon us, and parents across Jamaica are deciding how much money they can
reasonably afford for lunch. There is an increasing trend among high schools to have fast-food
outlets provide lunch for their students. My mind struggles to understand why they would think
fast food is the right match for students in the middle of the learning day. I cannot help but
think of the high levels of extortion schools are able to commit as there is often no competition
to these outlets. Each year, the students return to signs informing them of $20-$50 price
increase on most if not all items. Many schools have such high prices literally breaking the
pockets of the students and by extension their parents. Foods are fashionable, but unhealthy in
a country which has high rates of obesity and its associated diseases of hypertension and
diabetes. The schools profit from the arrangement, but the children develop poor eating habits
early in life.
With Jamaica's rich and internationally recognized cuisine, I see the school canteen as that one
place that students should be able to afford a healthy meal. Instead, many starve themselves
throughout the day so they can purchase a meal off campus on the way home (which is against
most school rules anyway), but way more affordable.

I think the time is right for a new focus on school meals which are tasty, healthy and affordable.
This will prove challenging, but as a resourceful people, I am sure Jamaican nutritionists and
culinary artists can find a solution.

Schools should encourage healthy eating habits and not contribute to the high costs of chronic
diseases in the country.

Julia F. Lindo
Poverty Keeps Children At Home
Published: Sunday | March 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM

Students of Fairfield Primary School, Portland, are seen tending to one-day-old chicks at the school's poultry farm. -

Photo by Philip Hamilton

Philip Hamilton, Sunday Gleaner Writer

ACUTE POVERTY and violence are denying student’s vital hours in the classroom. These age-old
problems have not gone unnoticed by researchers and the Ministry of Education.

Over 20 per cent of the island's primary schools have attendance rates below the 90 per cent required by
the ministry. Some drop to as low as 85 per cent.

Director of the School of Education at the University of the West Indies, Professor Zellyne Jennings-
Craig, and her team of researchers, examined 100 primary schools across the island over 18 months in
2008. They collected information on the schools, as well as children, their parents, teachers and the
communities where the schools were located.

Unemployment, low literacy levels among parents and other members of the community, child labor, and
the low value attached to education were identified as the main factors keeping children away from the
classroom.

The team found that in rural enclaves, many parents struggled daily to send their kids to school, several
barely able to eke out a living from their small farms.
Consequently, some children are not sent to school on Fridays widely regarded as a 'wasted day' when no
learning takes place.

Many also attend school without having had breakfast, and it is not uncommon for children to be used by
parents for reaping crops on these days, as well as for carrying goods to sell at the market.

Identifying the root causes, Jennings-Craig and her team established training programs and workshops for
the schools to mobilize the communities in identifying solutions to tackle the problems.

"Our next task was to help the schools form intervention management committees which were largely
community-based," said Jennings-Craig. “We had on the team somebody involved in social work, with a
lot of experience with community-based organizations, who was of great help in forming these
committees."

Using the workshops organized by Jennings-Craig and her team, the committees developed various
intervention strategies for implementation by the schools.

Several income-generating projects were established by schools, most of which are agriculture-based and
included poultry and pig rearing, vegetable gardens, a bakery, computers, and a music programme. Seed
funding from the Ministry of Education of some $200,000 helped to kick-start the projects.

Fairfield Primary in Portland has a successful poultry-rearing project, which not only provides breakfast
and lunches to impoverished students, but produce from the farm is sold to shops and jerk chicken
vendors.

The school is now in the process of expanding its vegetable garden, and will shortly be setting up a pigsty
with added help from community members.
While The Sunday Gleaner was unable to obtain data from the Ministry of Education to assess the
program’s overall impact on improving school attendance, Jennings-Craig said preliminary reports from
some institutions indicated marginal improvements.
philip.hamilton@gleanerjm.com
PATH Pains - Schools Stuck With Big
Bills Following New Lunch Directive,
but Education Minister Says Relief Is
Available
Published: Sunday | November 5, 2017 | 12:00 AM | Nadine Wilson-Harris

Administrators at several schools across the island are complaining that they face an additional challenge
this year as they struggle to find more money to fund meals for students on the Programme of
Advancement through Health and Education (PATH).

This follows a directive from Education Minister Ruel Reid that all students on PATH are to be given
lunch every school day.

Schools were previously responsible for providing lunch for these students three days each week, but
Reid announced, at the start of the new school year, that the days were to be increased. He also promised
that $150 would be allotted each day to purchase lunch for each of the more than 188,000 students
currently on PATH.

But the change has proved particularly problematic for those principals whose schools are served by a
concessionaire.

President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, David Wilson, said he couldn't
speak for other schools, as the issue has not been generally discussed. However, as principal of Clarendon
College, he is in discussion with education ministry officials about the challenges his school is facing
following the recent directive from the minister.

"Based on the provisions from the government for the five days, in terms of the per-day cost it may be a
challenge on the basis that my school works with a concessionaire and the concessionaire prices are $250
and up for a lunch per day, so we are in dialogue with the ministry as to how best to approach it," said
Wilson.
Another principal, who asked not to be named, told The Sunday Gleaner that lunches are sold at her
school for $250 and the school has had to fund the difference for PATH students.

SHOULD NOT BE DIFFERENT

"We are not managing because the funds that we get can't feed the children for five days and we have to
feed them well. I am not one of those that believe that the PATH students' lunch should be different from
any other lunch," said the principal.
She said the Corporate Area institution she administers has nearly 500 students on PATH, and other
school administrators are experiencing similar challenges.

"We talk among ourselves. It is difficult, it is really difficult, and the children are coming expecting the
lunch, and we understand that, so every time you beg a little money, it goes right into that welfare," said
the administrator.

In the meantime, while principal of the Corporate Area-based St Andrew Technical High School
(STATHS), Rayon Simpson, does not have an issue with the education ministry's directive, he hopes the
financial support from the ministry will, over time, match the reality faced by the schools.

According to Simpson, STATHS has 595 students on PATH and also provides support for more than 200
other students. It costs the school more than $148,000 to provide lunches for these students daily. A
portion of that is subsidized by the Government but the school bears the brunt.

"We have been very fortunate to have past students who care deeply about our school and students, and as
a consequence assist the breakfast and lunch programs. This has enabled us to bridge the gap
significantly, though not entirely," said Simpson.

But Education Minister Ruel Reid told our news team that he has not received any complaints from any
institution regarding the recent amendments to the policy for the provision of lunches for PATH students.

"All that is required is that where principals have issues, the correct protocol is to have a discussion with
the board, the board has a discussion with the Ministry of Education, and then we can resolve all
problems," said.

"No school to my knowledge has made a formal representation to me or raised it as a concern," added the
education minister.

He said the ministry had hosted a meeting with school concessionaires to arrive at more affordable prices
for lunch for PATH students.

"The truth is, the only schools that have issues, and this predated the new policy, are the schools that have
concessionaires, because the schools that have their own canteen, not only are we providing the funds for
those schools, but we are providing the funding for cooks and paying all the other utilities," said Reid.

"We at the ministry can work with the school and the concessionaire to arrive at a formula so that the
children can get lunch, and everybody will be paid and everybody will be happy," he asserted.
nadine.wilson@gleanerjm.com