24 tasks have been identified for school principals regarding canteens

Emirates Education directs to form teams in schools for health and safety measures

The tasks of the teams are based on 3 axes, including buildings, facilities, equipment and school operations.

Photography: Patrick Castillo

The Emirates Education Foundation directed the formation of three teams in each government school to implement health and safety procedures and controls with the start of the current academic year, and set 24 tasks for school principals regarding school canteens, most notably ensuring the supplier's readiness for the school canteen, and abiding by the prices imposed on it by the institution.

And the Foundation stated in the Guide to the Safe Return to Schools, which it recently issued, that the tasks of the teams are based on three main axes, which are policies, controls and procedures, buildings, facilities, equipment and school operations, and awareness, training and dissemination of culture.

The Foundation directed the formation of education continuity teams from the membership of six school cadres, namely the school principal, the deputy academic director, the head of the school services unit, the head of the Student Affairs Unit, a specialist or executive of the environment, health and safety, and the school nurse, in addition to any other person, according to what he deems fit. School Manager.

The manual included 19 detailed tasks for the formed school teams, including six tasks in the policies and procedures: communicating with the school community and parents of students, applying all procedures and policies approved by the institution, adhering to the requirements of the manual, developing and implementing the necessary plans to ensure its implementation, and defining the tasks and responsibilities of all persons And the teams concerned with applying the “return guide”, preparing a plan for disbursing operational budgets to provide personal protective equipment and precautionary needs, and preparing and implementing a mechanism to monitor and monitor the extent of adherence to the controls and procedures contained in the guide.

As for the tasks of the team in charge of facilities and operations, they are six, the first of which is to provide a safe, healthy and stimulating school environment for work, learning and education, ensuring the safety of students and members of the administrative and teaching staff, protecting property and assets, assessing the risks of buildings, facilities and school equipment, and applying the necessary controls, procedures, and precautionary and preventive measures to reduce and control them. Coordination with the concerned school sector or branch and management of facilities to ensure the safety of buildings, facilities and equipment, and finally preparing and implementing corrective and preventive plans to close the observations of inspection reports and periodic audits.

On the other hand, the Emirates Foundation for School Education reported that the periodic inspection of school canteens focuses on evaluating 20 items in the school canteen work policy, which comply with the requirements of the environment, health and occupational safety in school canteens.

The approved evaluation criteria stressed the availability of a sufficient number of supervisors and operators, with one worker for every 150-200 students in the second cycle schools, who are qualified and approved by the local competent authorities concerned with food safety in the country, provided that waste storage and disposal are properly managed.

Through the Guide to Safe Return to Schools for the 2022-2023 school year, she stressed the importance of locating a specific place for materials to be returned to suppliers, providing a health training certificate to identify basic food safety, hand washing instructions, providing washing liquid and authorized hand sterilization, and showing employees appropriate knowledge and understanding of safety. Basic foods, and ensuring public sterilization to prevent selective contamination, as well as the commitment of workers to personal hygiene, and uniform clothing, including gloves and a head covering.

She added that regulations should be put in place explaining how to wash hands near hand washbasins, the use of paper napkins, placing the insect killer in a suitable place and working, cleaning and maintaining it, as well as controlling physical pollution in the appropriate place, and it is not permissible to have metal wires in the washing container, provided that there are First aid boxes in place, an acceptable level of cleaning for the equipment used, and refrigerated food kept below five degrees.

Only prepared low-risk foods are allowed to be left at room temperature during service, and for a period not exceeding half an hour, and these items are thrown away if not sold after service, and records used to record food temperature, and maintain food quality and safety in terms of smell Taste and hygiene, provided that a label is placed on the products containing the name of the product, ingredients, company name, production and expiry date, and equipping the canteen with the necessary equipment such as refrigerators, heaters and insect repellents.

The evaluation criteria stressed the necessity of having vehicles equipped to transport food, and licensed by the competent local authorities concerned with food safety, and the licensing of vehicles used to transport food in the country.

The Foundation has identified 24 tasks assigned to school principals in school canteens, most notably ensuring that the supplier is ready for his school canteen, providing all the necessary equipment and equipment, and providing the supplier for a sufficient number of supervisors and operators in the canteen according to the percentages approved by the Foundation, and his commitment to the prices imposed on him by the Foundation. As well as his commitment to all health requirements and standards, supplying all items approved in the contract, and monitoring the supplier's commitment to provide all meals and items assigned to him.

It is the responsibility of school principals to ensure the aesthetic appearance of the canteen, provided that the environment of the canteen is motivating for students to use it, with the need to provide good lighting and ventilation, and awareness leaflets on the importance of balanced healthy foods, and to ensure the cleanliness of the canteen, and to open it on a daily basis at breakfast times before the queue. morning and during break times.

The school director must ensure that the opportunities times are divided among the students according to the plan in place, to reduce overcrowding, give the students the possibility to obtain meals, and cooperate with the supplier and school canteen supervisors in organizing break times to ensure that students receive meals on a regular basis, and develop awareness plans for students and parents Concerning healthy nutrition, encouraging students to use the school canteen, and not buying with restaurants, cafeterias and groceries outside the school.

The manual stated the need to ensure the permanent presence of health certificates, papers and other records of temperature and sterilization in the school canteen, to apply periodic supervision and evaluation on the performance of the supplier, and to ensure that its employees and employees comply with all procedures and general controls for school service providers, and submit periodic reports in the event of any default or Recurring complaints or problems that were not fulfilled or corrected by them, as well as the daily follow-up and control of the work of school canteens, and their compliance with all meals and supporting items with the standards and requirements.

7 tasks for outreach teams

The Safe Return to School Guide sets seven tasks for the awareness and training teams, which are to educate the school community about the policies, controls, procedures and requirements of the “Safe Return” guide and any other relevant guidelines issued by the institution, and to ensure that the school community is familiar with the environment, health and safety guidelines and the precautionary measures and procedures related to the virus. “Covid-19” and its prevention and prevention of its spread, direct supervision, awareness and follow-up on hand washing for students of kindergarten and the first cycle, and the development of motivational and encouraging rewards for students who are committed to washing hands frequently and correctly during the school day, and activating the display screens located in the entrances to the school and all its facilities to display reminders and updates about Precautionary and preventive measures and the reasons for adhering to them, training those concerned with applying and supervising these guidelines and procedures, and finally spreading the culture of environment, safety, health and psychological stability in the school community.

The periodic inspection of canteens focuses on evaluating 20 items in the school canteen operation policy.

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