Awareness of and Compliance to School Canteen Regulations in the City Schools Division of Batac

Abstract

Introduction

The City Schools Division of Batac (CSDB) aims to establish and maintain school canteens that cater to the nutritional needs of the school children through selling and serving healthy, nutritious and affordable snacks and meals while at the same time follows orders and memoranda of the Department of Education about food, drinks, sanitation, and canteen funds. This study supported the close monitoring and supervision by the CSDB through the School Governance and Operations Division (SGOD) of the operation and management of school canteens in public elementary and secondary schools by looking into the level of awareness and compliance to school canteen regulations by the school canteen teachers set by the DepEd for public schools.

Methods

This research adopted the descriptive design. The respondents are the school canteen managers from the 26 public elementary schools and six (6) secondary schools. Total population sampling was used to determine the level of awareness and compliance of all school canteens to DepEd regulations on canteen operations. A survey questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was a validated self-made checklist based on DO 13, s. 2017 and DO 8, s. 2007. It was categorized into three (3) namely: a) operations, b) food management, and c) fund management and accounting. The data were treated by frequency count and mean percentages. The questionnaire used a four-point-scale.

Results

It was found out that the canteen teachers considered as canteen managers are very much aware of the regulations set by the Department of Education particularly the DO 8, s. 2007 and DO 13, s. 2017 as to operations, food management, and fund management and accounting. On the other hand, the school canteen managers are generally always compliant with school canteen regulations set by the Department of Education for public elementary and secondary schools.

Discussions

The level of awareness and compliance of school canteen managers in public elementary and secondary schools to DepEd canteen regulations was generally high. It is imperative that the awareness of the school canteen managers of DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2007 and DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017 led to a high degree of compliance. While the school canteen managers were very much aware and are highly compliant with DepEd canteen regulations, they have encountered many problems with canteen operations which could greatly affect their overall compliance with certain provisions.