A number of schools and gymnasiums in Brest are experimenting with the introduction of cashless payments for children's meals in school canteens. Now it covers seven educational institutions. It is planned that starting from the new year, all schoolchildren in them will be transferred to non-cash payment (now several parallels are participating in the experiment), and then all other schools will be connected to it. The main goal of the innovation is to eliminate the circulation of cash in the education system and free the class teacher from the unusual work of raising money, filling out reporting documentation on nutrition, Vecherny Brest writes.
At the moment, two platforms are used for non-cash payments through the ERIP (Single Settlement and Information Space) in Brest schools: schoolPay and IPay. The first one was offered by BitArt LLC based on the school.by service, the second one by IPay JLLC. At the end of the academic year, the departments of education together with KUPTP "Combine Catering”, which organizes meals for children in Brest schools, will analyze and choose the platform that best meets the requirements and interests of all parties.
“Each child is assigned a personal account. He is known to the parents of the child, and they contribute money to him. The essence of both platforms is that in the morning the class teacher fills electronic ticket, in which he indicates only those who are absent, - says the methodologist of the education department of the administration of the Leninsky district of Brest, Yekaterina Androsyuk. - All children are already listed in the system with indication of food benefits, if these benefits are available. A coupon is formed, the "send" button is pressed - and the coupon enters the dining room. The head of the dining room sees on her computer how many portions are needed, and these portions are served on the tables. Money is automatically debited from the personal accounts of children who do not have “enki” in front of them to the account of the public catering plant. It is very important that the child’s account has a positive balance: the plant needs to buy food for cooking meals.”
The schoolPay system is hosted on the schools.by service. Brest schools have been working with this service for the third year: it is on it that electronic journals and diaries are located. Starting this year, it also pays for school educational services: clubs, group and individual lessons in subjects, etc. The schoolPay platform allows parents to see the entire payment history and track the balance of the child's personal account, and this is a definite plus. Every time a child eats lunch in the school cafeteria, the cost of this lunch is deducted from the account, and parents see it. The platform is being tested in gymnasiums No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6, as well as in school No. 22.
The IPay system is located on the service http://www.kshp.bel. The “minus” of the option is that only the class teacher sees the rest of the amount on the child’s account, who informs the parents about the need to make the next payment. For an additional fee, the Aggregator offers a service for sending SMS messages that the child has had lunch. The IPay platform is now used in schools No. 3 and No. 8, as well as in Lyceum No. 1.
Other schools in Brest still use the “classic” option of transferring money through the child to the class teacher to pay for meals. Everyone knows its disadvantages - in the end, a child may simply “not bring” money to school. But the key word here is "yet". Specialists of the departments of education are sure: it will take a little time - and non-cash payments for meals in school canteens will become as common as now - electronic diaries ...
To the point
Some schools in regional centers, in particular, in Kamenets, where the education department is in charge of catering, have also introduced cashless payments for school meals since the new academic year. It is carried out directly through the ERIP system through Internet banking. Each child is assigned a personal personal account, to which parents transfer money via Internet banking. The money is immediately transferred to the account of the department of education. The “minus” of this option is the same: the parent does not see how much money is left in the child’s account. The class teacher should monitor the amount of the balance and inform parents about the need to replenish the account as it approaches zero.
Supervisors everywhere revealed discrepancy between cooked dishes and technological documentation. In other words, products were underreported. In one of the Minsk gymnasiums, children were fed plov, in which the underinvestment of meat was 75%. Pilaf from one rice.
It is not at all excluded that the meat saved on high school students was used for someone's personal purposes, for more satisfying pilaf.
In the canteen of one of the schools in Minsk, 2.5 kg of pork shoulder and 3 kg of minced pork were found hidden in the washing room.
Before planning the exact diet, an approximate two-week menu is drawn up, which should provide the child with both sufficient calories and vitamins and trace elements. This is a known fact.
But is this possible if in the KShP menu(school food plant - ed.) Frunzensky district of Minsk average consumption of fish in day was 30% of the norm, fruit - 40%, juice - 30%, sour cream - 45%? But almost 1.5 times higher was the consumption of pasta, cereals and legumes.
The menu of the KSHP of the Partizansky district exceeded the norm of sausages in the children's menu by 14%.
Everything is serious. For example, in the canteen of a Minsk school, there were 11 different expired dishes - salads, sandwiches, jelly.
Photo source: baltnews.ee
And in Vitebsk, 700 kg of cakes were found, which were made from expired products. In the capital's gymnasium, rice porridge, which it was time to throw away, was simply frozen. And in the secondary school of Borisov, meat, poultry and yeast were stored, which became unusable 3 months ago.
Another problem with school canteens and buffets is the acceptance of cash for meals from parents. As a rule, schoolchildren transfer money to teachers, teachers - to employees of canteens. And all without receiving a check and most often without cash equipment and payment terminals.
Money that is not fixed anywhere can settle in different pockets. The controllers said that on the day of monitoring the receipt of money in one of the Minsk gymnasiums, the revenue was 70% more than on the previous day. The situation repeated itself tomorrow. What do you think, if the controllers had not come, where would these 70% of the proceeds have settled?
There is no single approach to catering: each owner has his own KSHP or education department. The price for the same product in different places in Belarus can vary surprisingly.
For example, in the Vitebsk, Grodno, Minsk and Mogilev regions, the level of trade markups for raw materials was not limited - school catering markups were applied to freely formed retail prices. This allowed organizations that provided catering services to schools to set prices freely. At times, trade mark-ups for raw materials - and this is without taking into account the wholesale mark-up - exceeded the maximum allowable level (15%), and in individual cases reached almost 200%.
A vivid example. 300 kg of raisins were delivered to CSR at 6.49 rubles per kg, with the possibility to buy from the importer at 2.50 rubles. KSHP Frunzensky district set a retail price of 7.46 rubles. It turned out that the maximum possible premium of 15% broke records and amounted to 198.3%.
Photo source: livejournal.com
How much will a raisin bun cost?
Gross violations have been established in the course of state purchases of raw materials from intermediaries. Everything was bought at inflated prices. Thus, in April-May 2016, the Education Department of the Mogilev District Executive Committee purchased cucumbers and tomatoes at prices twice as high as those from producers. The same department purchased cheeses 9-53% more expensive than it was possible to buy.
Igor Karpenko, the Minister of Education, assured that all those responsible will be held accountable, and the legal framework regarding the organization of school meals needs to be revised.
We will continue to strictly control this issue, it is impossible to put up with this state of affairs.
The results of the audit of the State Control Committee were sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, and the KGC's proposals for improving the situation in organizing school meals were sent to the Council of Ministers and local authorities.
Are you satisfied with school or kindergarten meals ?!
For the second month, parents of Minsk schoolchildren pay for lunches through the ERIP system. During this time, the attitude of many mothers and fathers to the innovation has changed dramatically - from sharply negative to approving. Particularly satisfied are those who are used to keeping track of their expenses and checking bills: just a couple of clicks - and you can see how much money is spent on feeding their children. Comfortable. But how did the system affect the work of schools and food factories?
I must say that for parents, the next school payment through the ERIP was not a novelty. This is how we have been accustomed to making money for textbooks and study groups for several years now: without additional fees and gestures. And those who conscientiously pay all bills today answer that they are satisfied with the work of the system. But in the teaching environment, at first the attitude towards technical innovations was, the teachers themselves admit, wary. Why? First, for many, this way of paying for meals seemed complicated and confusing. It is understandable, 10-digit account numbers of students, settlement accounts and other technical bells and whistles, at first glance, look like a jungle through which you still have to get through. And the work of the system itself from the start, which is already there, raised questions. Secondly, constant experiments on the school have already developed a deliberately skeptical attitude towards any, even very correct changes. But a month has passed - and the pluses, say more and more class teachers from various metropolitan schools, are obvious: no need to mess around with cash, and parents can control every ruble spent without question. The director of Minsk secondary school No. 196, Natalya Burkevich, shares the same opinion:
Photo by Sergey LOZYUK.
Perhaps the system has not yet fully strengthened, but it will definitely happen. Undoubtedly, this method of payment is very comfortable for parents, everything is transparent for school meals. Class teachers in our school also confirm: it is convenient. It is also good that schoolchildren can receive lunches on credit. But the main plus is that there is no cash, and this removes many issues, up to banal thefts.
When the idea was first born, school officials were most afraid of the additional workload on teachers who have to celebrate students who have had lunch every day. But class teachers soon came to the conclusion that with the help of modern means of communication they can quickly perform the operations necessary for payment, including with mobile phone. In addition, a computer was installed in the teacher's room, with the help of which you can solve all the questions about the nutrition of your class at a convenient time for yourself. The proposal, says the director, quickly turned out to be in demand. And at the end of the day, the head of the institution takes readings for the day. In addition, a person has been appointed who constantly controls all payments for food from the school ...
It would seem that the scheme is working, and schoolchildren are safely getting their lunches on schedule. But the human factor traditionally adds a fly in the ointment to an initially good idea. Although the way we collect money for lunches has changed, one of the pain points has become even more acute: no matter how much teachers remind parents to pay on time, there are still debts. Moreover, they are steadily growing, because many mothers and fathers have decided to make the most of the fact that a child can have lunch at school on credit. And away we go! It used to be that a teacher could pawn her money for someone who forgot to hand over a five-grader for food. Now it is the school food factories that have to deal with everything. They unanimously admit: to work with new system payment became more difficult. “It turns out that we feed our children on credit, and many parents, unfortunately, abuse this,” the SB correspondent was told in several districts of the city at once. For example, representatives of the school catering plant in the Leninsky district of the capital complain that debts have increased after the introduction of payment through the ERIP, and some parents of schoolchildren have not yet paid for September. However, there are many such non-payers in each district.
Why? Often the reason is not so much in the lack of funds, but in elementary laziness, although you just need to press a couple of buttons, sometimes without even getting up from the couch, and transfer money to the account. Yes, they say in school catering plants, some parents carefully monitor the balance and replenish it in time, others approached the issue with particular conscientiousness: since the beginning of the year they have thrown a large amount into the account, up to 200 - 300 rubles, they say, for months ahead. This, in fact, saves, along with money for free meals for schoolchildren, which organizations transfer on time. After all, it is necessary to purchase products in advance and pay off suppliers ... But "life on credit", you see, cannot be eternal.
MEANWHILE
Do not feed your parents with bread, let them criticize school meals. A lot of moms and dads insist: “My child doesn’t want to eat school food!” But is she really that bad? With this question, we turned to a professional - the head of production of the dining room of the capital's school No. 196, Mikhail Lashukevich. He has something to compare with: he has experience in oriental restaurants, and for the last three years his main tasters are children:
- The school menu is tasty and healthy. Of course, children love McDonald's more, but compared to it, we have the healthiest diet.
Parents often complain about the appearance of school lunches, they say, the child does not like what he sees on the plate - we broadcast a popular complaint to the cook.
- What can be appearance at the cutlet? A cutlet is a cutlet. As, however, and porridge. But we decorate each portion beautifully.
And how do you feel about the fact that some children, on the contrary, are much more willing to eat school cutlets than homemade ones? Although at home, unlike the school menu you can add spices...
- My child, for example, does not like spices. Both at school and at home he eats with great pleasure. In fact, any food is difficult to prepare. It is easy to spoil a dish, even with a recipe that is much more difficult to cook well. It all depends on the person: if he works with soul, then the result will be delicious.
Mikhail admits that he himself likes school food. And willingly tastes everything cooked. But the children's favorite dish could not be determined. He says it all depends on taste preferences. Some people prefer salad, while others prefer casserole. But the chef's signature dish, the school staff suggested to us, is chicken with pineapples.
For meals in Minsk schools, parents will start through the ERIP system. About whether moms and dads will pay in advance or after the fact, whether ERIP takes a commission and whether it is necessary to bring a check to the class teacher - in the questions and answers of TUT.BY.
- Recipient of payments - Combine school meals. In order for the organization to be able to purchase the necessary products by the beginning of the school year, prepayment will be used. This means that in the first days of September, parents will pay for a month in advance, - explains Oleg Chumakov, PR manager at Nebankovskoye financial institution"ERIP". - Already from October, payment will be made after the fact, that is, after the end of the billing month.
By September 1, most schools in Minsk have introduced Information system to which class teachers have access.
“Each student is assigned an account number, his mom and dad will be informed at the parent meeting,” they say in ERIP. - This number is retained by the person until graduation and is never transferred to anyone else. Parents will transfer money for food to him.
Class teachers do not need to provide checks; teachers can check the fact of payment online through their Internet account.
The Main Department of the Consumer Market of the Minsk City Executive Committee explains: the new information system is like a notebook or a food record book that was used before. Absences, debts of students will be noted here.
- Accordingly, if the child was not at school, this is recorded. As a result, the money for this day does not disappear, but is transferred to the next month.
“There are no commissions,” he says. Elena Anthony, Chairman of the Board of the Non-Banking Credit and Financial Organization "ERIP". - As they are not charged for any other payments through ERIP, for example, for textbooks.
You can pay for food through ERIP using mobile and Internet banking, at bank cash desks, at the post office, as well as through payment terminals and information kiosks.
To pay for school meals through ERIP, in the service tree, select:
Calculation System-> Minsk City-> Education and Development-> School Meals Combines-> District-> Nutrition.
