Not yet agreed, so temporary suspension
On January 13, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Principal of Ba Don Primary School No. 1 Tran Thi Minh Thuy said that because the school and parents have not agreed on a plan to organize a boarding meal, the school decided to temporarily suspend it to continue discussing and agreeing on the direction of implementation in the coming time.
According to information from the school, after the reflection of Lao Dong Newspaper in October 2025, the unit has reorganized boarding activities, taking photos of each daily meal and sending them to parents' groups to report and publicize students' meals.
However, by the end of December 2025, some reflections related to the quality of boarding meals of the school continued to appear for about 1-2 days. Faced with that situation, Ba Don Ward People's Committee organized a working session with the school and parents requesting to come up with a common view.
Based on the conclusion of the working session, Ba Don Primary School No. 1 has temporarily suspended the organization of boarding meals from January 12, 2026.
On the same day, Vice Chairman of Ba Don Ward People's Committee Nguyen Van Ninh said that in the past time, the school has made efforts to maintain boarding activities, contributing to supporting parents and ensuring nutritional conditions for students. However, through inspection and receiving feedback, the Ward People's Committee found that there are still some limitations that need to be rectified promptly.
Accordingly, at some times, the meal menu has not ensured scientificity and nutritional balance. The stage of inspecting input foods, processing, dividing portions and transportation has not been fully implemented according to procedures. Dossiers and books still lack information related to the origin of food, product batch and food safety documents as prescribed.
In addition, the Ward People's Committee assessed that the current facilities of the school do not meet the requirements for organizing school meals. The kitchen area, kitchen warehouse, processing area and dining hall do not meet the requirements.
From the above reality, Ba Don Ward People's Committee proposed that the School Board of Directors focus on improving the efficiency of management work, avoiding semi-boarding activities affecting teaching activities as well as the school's reputation.
2 options for semi-boarding
Regarding the organization of semi-boarding meals in the coming time, Ba Don Ward People's Committee requests the school to study and choose 1 of 2 suitable options.
The first option is that the school coordinates with the Parents' Representative Board to agree on contents including the number of students registering for semi-boarding, meal prices, menus, nutritional requirements, organizational process, supervision and 3-step inspection. These contents must be recorded and signed in full. On that basis, the school selects a meal provider in accordance with regulations, in case of contractor selection according to regulations.
Option 2, in case the school does not meet the conditions to directly organize but parents have a large need, the Parents' Representative Board will preside over selecting the unit to provide meals. The school is responsible for supporting existing facilities, providing relevant documents and assigning teachers to coordinate supervision from the stage of importing materials to organizing meals for students.
Ba Don Ward People's Committee also assigned the Department of Culture and Social Affairs to preside over and coordinate with relevant units to inspect or advise the Ward People's Committee to establish an inspection team for public preschool and primary education institutions in the area that organize boarding meals. Thereby, promptly detect, rectify and advise on strict handling of violations, ensuring that boarding activities in schools are implemented in accordance with legal regulations.
Previously, as Lao Dong Newspaper reported, on October 6, 2025, images appeared on social networks of a rice tray believed to be a semi-boarding meal worth 25,000 VND at Ba Don Primary School No. 1, including 3 pieces of spring rolls, 1 boiled egg, 1 dish similar to sesame salt and vegetable soup.
This image quickly attracted many opinions that such meals are too little compared to the price, difficult to ensure nutrition for boarding students. After reflection, the school principal admitted that the meal belonged to the school, apologized to parents and committed to implementing remedial measures.
