Authorities ban soft drinks, junk food from school canteens

Beijing's education authorities recently issued a new ban on the sales of carbonated beverages in elementary and middle schools in an attempt to improve the health of students, in a move that has triggered a heated discussion regarding the effectiveness of such a ban.

The ban was included in a notice issued by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education on Thursday, which says that canteens in boarding schools should not sell unhealthy drinks and food. The notice specified items such as soft drinks, hamburgers and instant noodles.

The commission could not be reached as of press time for comments regarding the motive or the implementation of the ban, which will cover schools in the capital city.

"We have received the notice and the school held a meeting to arrange the implementation of the regulation on campus," said Li Ruixia, a staff member with the principal's office of Baijiazhuang Elementary School.

No canteens in the school are allowed to sell soft drinks to the students, who are also forbidden to bring snacks or drinks to the school, Li said, adding that the ban was to improve students' health.

Students have poor self control when it comes to soft drinks, which taste good but have high calories and too much sugar, which are leading causes of obesity, Zheng Wei'ai, a counselor at a Beijing high school, told the Global Times, adding that she supported the ban.

Xue Eryong, a research fellow with the Beijing-based China Institute of Education Policy at Beijing Normal University, shared Zheng's view. He said that because the organization is charged with providing a public service to students, the commission should have some say in students' development.

While the ban has plenty of supporters, some parents and experts have voiced their concerns over the use of a mandatory order.

"The ban is a mere scrap of paper because there are no canteens in my son's school," Zhou Yan, the mother of a student at Haidian District Experimental Primary School, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"How can they control the stores selling soft drinks and junk food outside the school gate?" asked Zhou, who added that students often buy soft drinks and unhealthy food in those stores, which cannot be banned by the commission.

The education authorities should put in more effort into establishing an atmosphere that values healthy diets by rejecting junk food rather than simply and brutally imposing a ban, Qin Binbin, a teacher with Guangxi Medical University was quoted as saying by the People's Daily on Tuesday.