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THE Education Ministry wants all schools to make sure their canteens provide a mix of halal and non-halal food suitable for children of all religions.
It made this clear yesterday, a day after news broke about a primary school which banned pupils from eating non-halal food in its canteen.
On learning of this on Monday, the ministry said that Boon Lay Garden Primary had made a mistake.
Yesterday, a ministry spokesman said the school 'will ensure that there will soon be a mix of halal and non-halal food items in its canteen'.
A few schools, including Boon Lay Garden Primary, have only halal-certified canteen stalls, which means all serve food suitable for Muslims even though the meals may be prepared Chinese, Indian or Western style.
The decision to have all of Boon Lay Garden's canteen stalls halal-certified was made by the school's previous principal, Mrs Florence Lim, in 2004.
But the controversy arose after its current principal, Mr Wan Imran Woojdy, wrote to his pupils' parents last Friday informing them that only halal food - suitable for consumption by Muslims - would be allowed in the canteen.
School staff also conducted checks to make sure pupils did not have non-halal food in their lunch boxes.
Some non-Muslim parents upset by the rule told The Straits Times that while they did not mind that all the food stalls were halal, they felt it discriminatory to ban non-halal food.
Yesterday, parents received another letter from the school, this time apologising for the error and saying the children were free to bring and eat non-halal food.
The school also said it was making arrangements to provide both halal and non-halal food in its canteen.
About 20 per cent of its 1,700 pupils are Muslims.
The ministry spokesman said that schools will continue to educate children to be sensitive to the different races and cultures here.
Schools have been emphasising this by creating opportunities for meaningful interaction among students of different races in both the formal and non-formal curriculum.
The spokesman added that it was important to 'maintain the common space where our students from all communities grow up together and build bonds of friendship'.
Parents interviewed by The Straits Times yesterday said they were glad the ban was lifted.
Mother of three Aileen Cheng, 40, said: 'My seven-year-old daughter has Indian and Malay friends, and I want her to feel free about eating with them and playing with them.
'Banning non-halal food and sectioning off a part of the canteen are not going to encourage that.'
Several Muslim leaders interviewed yesterday also felt that Boon Lay Garden's mistake in declaring its canteen a 'halal zone' had set back efforts to get people of different religions to understand one another's beliefs.
Mr Rhazaly Noentil, a veteran mosque leader at the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), said such moves only left non-Muslims thinking that Muslims are not accommodating towards others.
The Muslim leaders interviewed also said Muslims are free to eat with non-Muslims as long as the Muslims consume halal food.
sandra@sph.com.sg
'HALAL ZONE' WOULD'VE BEEN A STEP BACKWARDS, SINGAPORE
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