DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LUNCH MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY OF LAD SAWAI KINDERGARTEN, PATHUM THANI PROVINCE

Abstract

ABSTRACT         

          Food is the cornerstone of good health, especially in children and young people. The fact is that, besides home, children and youths have spent most of their time at school. Food proposed by school is very essential for children's development and growth. The objectives of the current research were to; 1) study the lunch management system of schools under Lat Sawai Municipality, 2) explore the guidelines for efficiently developing school-lunch management. Key informants were representatives from Lat Sawai Municipality School, the school’s board of directors, and teachers who are responsible for school lunch and 3 school’s cooks.   The research tool was a structured interview form for gaining qualitative data. The same question items were asked to all key informants for analyzing qualitative processes.

              The research findings were found that: 1) The budget for school-lunch management system has been allocated by Lat Sawai Municipality. Then the school was a lunch project operator. The school has set the lunch menu based on the Thai School Lunch system. The highlight of the school-lunch management system is that lunch materials have been purchased and cooked by school’s cooks. According to this, lunch has been adequate for all students. 2) The guidelines for efficiently developing school-lunch management were about budget disbursement that should be verified and operated faster. In addition, municipalities should recruit more school cooks for avoiding delays in cooking and more efficiently managing lunch.