“CULTURAL LOSS”
The central kitchen initiative builds on a 2022 pilot at Yusof Ishak Secondary School, managed by caterer SATS. The school’s principal Chen Ziyang previously told CNA that the model has “significantly reduced” wait times compared to traditional canteen queues.
But for stallholder Mr Tan, something deeper is at stake, especially if more schools jump on the bandwagon.
“If they’re able to do it with variety and with choices. And if the kids love the food … my fear would be that more schools would just choose this easy option, and then there goes the school canteen,” said Mr Tan.
School canteens are a “uniquely Singaporean culture”, he added, where students get to learn life skills.
