Sub-theme 1: The school canteen

In the previous chapter the school canteen was discussed under the theme school system and philosophy, for example how it works and its rules and regulations. This chapter will focus on the school canteen as an environment, such as its location and its design. The data analysis shows many similarities and differences between the schools’ canteens. All school canteens were located outside schools. For example, at the public school, the canteen was attached to the school building, and at the Islamic school, the canteen was close to the main school building. At the private school, the canteen was not far away from the primary school building. The private school canteen was less than a five-minute walk for the students.

Therefore, the school had made a covered path to make the walk to the canteen easy for the students under different weather conditions as described by the following field notes.

“The canteen was in a separate building from the main building of the private school. The primary school students used the pathway to reach the school canteen. The canteen from outside looks good and the doors were open and there were no crowds”

157

(Field notes, Private School)

Although all schools had a separate place for the canteen, there was a problem with capacity.

The school canteen at the public and the Islamic school was a single room located outside the school building. The room had three windows at the public school and one window at the Islamic school, these were used for students to order food. Neither the canteen at the public school nor the canteen at the Islamic school looked clean from the outside. Each canteen was in poor condition and there was no space for eating, these affect the students’

health when it comes to food-ordering time, as quoted below.

“I went down to the school canteen with the students and some teachers at break time. I noticed that the school canteen had only one window where the students choose their food. I was shocked because the window from outside was very dirty and small compared to the total number of school students, and the weather outside was hot.

More than that, there are no sun shades and the students have no queue to buy food.”

(Field notes, Islamic School)

BT3: In the school, there are many problems in the canteen. Yes, the workers in the canteen have a health and safety certificate, but the problem is that the canteen has very limited space.

Ahmed: What do you mean?

BT3: I mean we have no space where students can eat their breakfast.

Ahmed: You mean in the school canteen?

BT3: Moreover, no tables and chairs can seat more than one hundred students eating there.

158 Ahmed: Oh

BT3: We also have no posters fixed close to the canteen to educate the students about healthy food.”

(BT3. Teacher Interview, Public school)

The situation at the private school canteen differed. It was inside a separate building and consisted of a big hall with many tables and chairs. Although there were many tables and chairs inside the canteen building, unfortunately there were not enough for all the students.

Therefore, I observed that some students left the canteen building with their food packages.

“I saw all chairs full with students and some students prefer to eat standing instead of waiting for vacant chairs and others were sitting on the canteen floor whereas some of them decided to go out of the school canteen.”

(Field notes, Private School)

The school canteen infrastructure in the Islamic and in the public school is not well designed.

The Islamic and public schools kept any remaining food inside the canteen, however the air conditioning system did not have the capacity to include the school canteen. The air inside the school canteen was hot due to weather conditions outside and the lack of effective air conditioning. I noticed during my observation that the canteen workers kept most of the biscuits and long-life juices in their usual place. The temperature can affect food quality, which, as a result, affects the students’ health, as quoted below.

“When the school was about to close, I saw the canteen worker collecting the remaining sandwiches and putting them in his bag, then he kept everything as it is. He turned off the air conditioner and he turned off the light and he closed the canteen door and left the school.”

159

(Field notes, Islamic School)

In support of the above statement, I noticed that there are no cabinets for storing food and hygiene standards were very low at the Islamic school, whereas the contractor of the public school canteen was anxious and afraid of being reported. I tried my best to explore the school canteen from inside, as quoted below.

“From the canteen windows in the public school I saw the contractor sitting inside. I asked him if I could see the types of food that he provided to the students. He said they were in front of me. I saw many biscuits, long-term juice. But I wanted to see all the food types from inside the canteen. I asked him to go inside the canteen. He agreed.

However, I noticed that he was not happy. Then I said I just wanted to know! He replied I would report him! I said I would but I would not mention your name or which school. Then I said to him, I also wanted to compare between our generation and this generation in regards to the food types. He said that is fine. Then he allowed me to go inside.”

(Field notes, Public School)

Summary

From the above discussion, it is clear that the school canteen is one of the factors that may affect children’s body weight. The physical environment at the private school canteen seems to be in good condition; however, it needs to pay more attention to supplying healthy food such as fruit. In the Islamic and the public school, through my observation of the two schools, the school canteens looked in poor condition. For example, the windows from outside were very dirty and I saw that the iron was rusty. So, this theme has many negative sub-themes.

An example is that their canteens were only one room, which was without tables and chairs, so the students had unhealthy food behaviour such as eating whilst walking around.

160

Therefore, teachers from the public school and the Islamic school recognised that the students suffer because of the canteen infrastructure and this is not part of their responsibility.