Forum: Co-create solutions to support school canteen stallholders

The recent commentary “

When old-style school canteens say goodbye, we lose more than we think

” (Sept 10) struck a chord.

I used to work closely with school canteen operators with my start-up Whizmeal, where we designed healthy eating programmes for schools. I saw first-hand the struggles behind the familiar faces serving our children daily. 

Many of these uncles and aunties find it hard to get meaningful income when they are limited to selling food only during the schooling months, with further gaps during home-based learning. Rising ingredient costs can also create additional burdens.

Many exhausted themselves with additional part-time work. A retired couple shared cooking and serving duties, but the husband worked night shifts elsewhere after closing while his wife managed household responsibilities. 

Another stallholder assistant supplemented income selling fritters at a shopping mall.

I hope more can be done to help these stallholders. 

I propose having bundled meal programmes within school fees, where individual canteen stallholders have the opportunity to provide pre-ordered meals to students. This could help provide a guaranteed income for these stallholders. 

There could also be cash incentives or awards, like for the “Most popular canteen stall”, to encourage quality improvements. 

To support this, we could establish a community fund, where schools and parents contribute a small amount like $1 monthly to create such incentives. It could even go towards basic insurance coverage, similar to those in the ride-hailing and food delivery sectors, to provide safety nets during illness or income loss. 

Let’s co-create solutions with government agencies, parent support groups and schools to help support our canteen stallholders. 

They are vital community builders and connectors who nourish students in ways central kitchens and vending machines cannot. 

True Singaporean strength isn’t measured solely by achievement but by how we lift one another up, especially those who quietly nourish our future generations.

Droston Tang