Practice of school canteen policy in the school canteens in the Rathnapura district, Sri Lanka

Background: School Health policy in Sri Lanka aims at improving nutritional status of school children of all ages. Ensuring the health of school children is essential to get the maximum from educational opportunities and to have healthy and productive adulthood. Objectives: To study the practice of school canteen policy in Rathnapura district by identifying the current situation of school canteens in relation to school canteen policy, to assess the level of monitoring of the practice of school canteen policy by the public health staff and to assess the knowledge of school canteen service providers on the issues in the school canteen policy. Method: Institutional based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in all schools with functioning school canteens in Rathnapura district in Sabaragamuwa province; using a check list and interviewer administered questionnaires; by trained volunteers. Practice of components of canteen policy was assessed in percentages. Associated factors were assessed using chi square test for significance. Results: Among 583 schools in the district, 179 (30.7%) have functioning school canteens, of which 167 participated in the study (93%). Only 9 (5.4%) schools have less than 200 students. 148 (88.6%) have school health clubs and school food committees. All have school development committees. The PHI has inspected in 122 (73.9%) schools while only 25 school canteens (15%) have completed H 800. Satisfactory levels were seen in relation to environment & building in 57%, hygiene & sanitation in 82.6%, food storage in 24.6%, food handling in 71.3%, availability of food varieties in 79.6%, food safety activities in 35.3%, knowledge of canteen owners in 25.7%. Significant association was seen between practice of school canteen policy with type of school being category AB (p=0.003), school zone being Rathnapura (p=0.001), Adherence to administrative criteria (p=0.000), Knowledge of canteen owners (p=0.001), availability of school food committee (p=0.001) and Grading of food handling establishments - H 800 (p=0.002). Conclusions: Implementation of school canteen policy requires involvement of both health and education sectors.