In China, the lunch break after lunch has become a habit in people's daily life, making people feel that the whole afternoon is not in good spirits. Lunch breaks for adults are easy to solve, you can lie down at home for a while, lie down in the office, or find a quiet place to take a few minutes. But for many primary and secondary school students, especially those in non-boarding schools, having lunch and lunch breaks at school at noon becomes complicated. The school was too far away from home to go home at noon, so I had to eat lunch and lunch break at school. However, there are no beds for them to rest, so students can only stay in their seats in the classrooms and rest in the afternoon. To make matters worse, since students are still in school, schools must be responsible for the safety of students, and cannot simply lock them up, but must arrange for them to be supervised. Usually teachers will take turns to supervise, but teachers also need a lunch break, and at noon the teacher is considered to be off work, and the lunch break is equivalent to overtime. In order to facilitate students' lunch breaks, the equipment purchased by the school will be worn out, which requires manpower and material costs. As a result, some schools have started charging for lunch breaks and set different fees depending on whether the student is sleeping on their stomach at the desk or in the bed. In the fall semester of last year, the school's charge for lunch breaks sparked controversy, arguing that it was unreasonable and "indiscriminate". Although the school and the education authorities explained that this was reasonable, the Ministry of Education issued a document prohibiting schools from charging for lunch breaks. At the end of 2023, the Notice on Further Regulating the Work Related to After-school Services in Compulsory Education clearly stipulates that schools shall not include lunch and lunch break supervision in the after-school service charging items. After the end of the winter vacation in 2024, the school asked parents to take turns to supervise lunch and lunch breaks, which sparked heated discussions among parents and netizens. Some people think that the school lacks a sense of responsibility and only cares about setting up a fee project, some people think that this is reasonable, the teacher has no responsibility to take care of the students after work, and some teachers say that this is a helpless move, and the school has no funds to hire someone to take care of it, so they have to let the parents themselves understand the situation. The local education bureau has urgently called a halt to the incident, but the problem has not been fundamentally resolved, and the school may introduce similar measures again, and parents are worried that their children will be left unsupervised for lunch and lunch breaks. From a parent's point of view, the school should be responsible for student safety, while the school and teachers believe that the lunch break is the time after work and is not within the scope of responsibility. The issue of education is complex, and it is hoped that the authorities will be able to find better solutions.
Taking a break after lunch has a significant impact on people's mental state and productivity. Because of the importance of the lunch break, most people use this time to take a short break and relax to stay energized. Especially for students, a good lunch break environment is essential for both learning and life in the afternoon. However, for non-boarding school students, due to the distance from home, it is not possible to go home for a break at noon, so lunch and lunch break can only be done inside the school. As a result, schools need to face the problem of how to arrange lunch breaks for students and what kind of care services to provide.
As the administrator and guardian of the students, the school needs to arrange personnel to supervise the students during their lunch break to ensure the safety of the students. However, the school is unable to provide teacher care for a long time as teachers also need a lunch break. So the school came up with the idea of charging a lunch break fee to compensate for the cost of providing lunch break services to students. Despite the controversy surrounding this practice, both schools and education authorities believe that it is a reasonable action. However, with the introduction of relevant regulations, schools have had to stop charging lunch break fees, resulting in the problem of lunch and lunch break supervision cannot be effectively solved. The school was faced with the dilemma of how to arrange for students to take care of them during their lunch break.
The Ministry of Education's regulations have led schools to require parents to take turns supervising lunch and lunch breaks. Parents have different views and attitudes towards this. Some parents believe that it is unreasonable and unfair for schools and teachers to lack a sense of responsibility and blindly pursue fees and shift the responsibility to parents. However, some parents believe that the lunch break is the end of the day, and the school and teachers are no longer obliged to take care of the students, so it is reasonable for parents to take care of them. Parents are faced with responsibilities and concerns about their children's safety, and they want schools to find better solutions to avoid safety hazards.
The education sector should actively respond to the problem of lunch breaks and develop more reasonable and comprehensive solutions to ensure the safety and rights of students. At the same time, schools and parents should also work together to find solutions that meet the actual situation and jointly safeguard the interests and safety of students. Education is a complex and continuous development process, which requires the joint efforts of relevant parties to jointly promote the healthy development of education.
Conclusion: Education is a vital cause in society, which is related to the future of the country and the cultivation of talents. In the process of education development, all kinds of problems and confusions will continue to emerge, and we need to work together to solve them. The education sector, schools, parents and the public should unite and work together to create a better educational environment and conditions, so that every student can learn with peace of mind and grow up healthily. It is hoped that the education department can prudently handle the problem of lunch break and find solutions that meet the actual situation to ensure the rights and safety of students.