Managing Integrity of Canteen Operators

I am a parent of a Primary 1G student in Temasek Primary School.

On 21 August, we found that my daughter had used a $5 note (which we gave for ‘emergency use’) to purchase a bottle of 100-Plus drink from one of the canteen stalls and was short changed by $1.

We took notice this time because it was the first time we gave her a $5 note as ‘emergency money’. Normally, it is a $2 note. We have a good degree of trust in my child’s honesty and have no reason to believe that she had lied etc.

The Operations Manager of the school and I had spoken to the operator concerned whose excuse is that such things may happen when the number of children ‘rushing’ for purchases is high like on the day concerned – hardly a phenomenon alien to primary schools.

I understand from the Operations Manager that he had spoken to the operator on a few occasions previously although I was not informed of the exact issues involved.

In my conversation with both the Operations Manager and the Vice Principal it appears that feedback to operators are done when there are complaints, and there are regular meetings with operator.

But it was clear to me that there is no process and metrics in place to actively manage the integrity of canteen operators, and to penalize the ones with a track record that indicates potentially unscrupulous behavior.

We do not expect the school to take drastic action on account of one complaint but parents do expect the school to have a process where such complaints is formally recorded and tracked, and used in a considered manner in ensuring the integrity of canteen operators is of a high standard. For integrity is fundamental to the education of our young.

A possible model to consider is to establish metrics like the number of complaints from students and parents, and when the relevant metrics are not met the operator involved to be penalized accordingly. Good statistics keeping and comparison across operators can help differentiate between genuine mistakes from other reasons.

Otherwise, unscrupulous behaviors may exist/persist and if unchecked cause some of our young to begin to think that one can get away with short-changing the young and innocent.

We urge the school to consider establishing appropriate metrics to manage the integrity of canteen operators. If they are already in place we are interested in understanding what they are.

MOE should consider including ensuring integrity of operators as part of the ‘MOE Tuckshop Policy’.

Yours sincerely