If you were to compare the prices of food in the canteens of private and public schools, a noticeable difference can be observed. Private schools have a higher rate when it comes to the range of prices in their food. Although majority of the food being served can be considered as “healthy”, the preparation of the food is more costly and time consuming. But this is just one out of many reasons to why food is more expensive in private schools. Generally speaking, food in the Philippines is really expensive, as mentioned by the former Bureau of Agricultural Research director Dr Eliseo Ponce in an article in 2014, adding that “We are even the most costly among ASEAN countries,”.  

The prices of Viand and Rices ranges from 45 pesos up to the “Over the top” price of 100 pesos, as a student we are not getting the most out of what we paid for, some food stalls even serve food on a small quantity. Now, how does it affect the budget of the students?, Students bring pocket money everyday, but not all students bring big amounts of money, some only have an amount of 100-200 in their pocket.

An example of this is in Colegio San Agustin Binan.An increase in the food and drink prices are being implemented in the CSA Canteen starting the Academic Year of 2018-2019. As of now the normal prices for a meal including drinks in the canteen would reach an estimated amount of P80. For students who only get 100 pesos daily allowance, they would only be left with P20, and that is for lunch alone. This doesn’t include the expenses for school funds being solicited for educational purposes, such as photocopies, project funds, and etc. From this alone, one can see that having an overpriced canteen does not really help students and their families’ wallets. Other schools that experience the same problem is in LPU-Manila. With the movement of providing healthier options for school canteens rising, the future prices of products may increase with them as well, adding more expenses.

Possible reasons to why food is more expensive in private schools are:

• Higher fee for rent
• Expensive ingredients

Canteens should be inclusive to everyone when it comes to its products. A possible solution to this is the addition of a student budget meal,consisting of Viand, Rice and Drinks for an affordable price of 40 Pesos,  in all food stalls in all canteens to give every student the option. By adding a budget meal to their menu, they will still be able to somewhat cope with the higher rates of rent, while still uphold its accessibility. They should also make their menu dynamic to suit the produce that is in season that particular month, or choose a cheaper alternative. But one issue that must also be addressed with the addition of budget meals, is that all options must ensure that they maintain the nutritional value of their expensive counterparts.

According to an article in Rappler, a meal can be considered healthy when it:

• achieves energy balance and a healthy weight
• limits energy intake from total fats and shifts fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats and toward the elimination of trans-fatty acids
• increases consumption of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts
• limits the intake of free sugars
• limits salt (sodium) consumption from all sources

It is common knowledge that the youth of today are not that accustomed to healthy eating habits. According to the 8th National Survey,children 5-10 years old, 29.1% were underweight, 29.9% were stunted,  8.6% were wasted, and 9.1% were overweight. Unhealthy eating patterns where also shown to cause obesity and indulging too much in junk foods could lead to cancer. By adding healthy budget meals to canteens, not only will it helps families’ wallets but will encourage a healthy lifestyle for the youth.

(c) Pictures from Google Images