{"id":23126,"date":"2026-04-22T14:34:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/?p=23126"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:00:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:00:44","slug":"save-the-children-is-implementing-a-school-lunch-program-at-tudevtei-soum-school-zavkhan-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/?p=23126&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Save The Children is implementing a school lunch program at Tudevtei Soum School, Zavkhan Province"},"content":{"rendered":"

Save the Children, with funding from the U.S.-based Denan, has been implementing a health project in Tudevtei Soum, Zavkhan Province, since 2025. As part of this project, a fully equipped new dental cabinet was established and became operational at the Soum health center in April 2025. In addition, a school-based Health Club was established and launched at the high school to promote public health education for students.<\/p>\n

The project introduced a school lunch program for middle and high school students at Tudevtei Soum School in March 2026, with support from Save the Children. Mongolia\u2019s school feeding program was first introduced in 2006. The adoption of the 2019 Law on Food Production and Services at Schools further strengthened the program, and in n 2021, it was expanded to provide hot meals for students in grades 1\u20135. The per-student budget has also increased from 1,500 MNT to 2,500 MNT in 2025.<\/p>\n

During visits to Tudevtei Soum in 2025, staff from Save the Children and the Denan Project met with middle and high school students and identified common problems, including students attending school without breakfast and experiencing hunger during lessons.\u00a0 These factors were found to negatively affect students\u2019 learning and academic performance. As a result, in collaboration with the school, Save the Children initiated Mongolia\u2019s first pilot lunch program, specifically targeting middle and high school students. Within the project framework, parents contribute 1,000 MNT per child per day; the remaining 1,500 MNT is covered by\u00a0 Save the Children and the Denan project.<\/p>\n

The school supports the program by covering additional electricity costs for meal preparation, strengthening the cooks’ capacity, and providing additional incentives for kitchen and administrative staff responsible for food procurement.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

The school currently has 310 students, of whom 190 (9 classes) in grades 6\u201312 are participating in the lunch program. The weekly menu highlights include: milk porridge and pastries on Mondays; noodle soup and raisin juice on Tuesdays; steamed dumplings (mantuun buuz) and milk tea on Wednesdays; stir-fried rice and sea buckthorn juice on Thursdays; Mongolian traditional noodle soup, bread, and tea on Fridays.<\/p>\n

Feedback on the lunch program<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ch. Amarjargal, School principal of Tudevtei soum school<\/strong>, shared, “Our staff is united in implementing the lunch program. Teachers, cooks, accountants, doctors, and social workers all actively participate, reflecting our shared commitment.”<\/p>\n

Jamyan, School social worker of Tudevtei soum school:<\/strong> \u201cThis program improves adolescent health, increases student engagement, prevents risky behaviors, reduces absenteeism, and strengthens collaboration between parents and the school.\u201d<\/p>\n

E. Batbayar, School Doctor of Tudevtei Soum School:<\/strong> \u201cBuilding on these efforts, meals are prepared in line with food safety, hygiene, and nutritional standards set by the Law on Food Production and Services at Schools. Students arrive at school at 8:00 a.m. and eat lunch between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m. Parents have received the program very positively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Ch. Uranbileg Student of Grade 7 at Tudevtei Soum School:<\/strong> \u201cFrom a student\u2019s viewpoint, we used to feel hungry during the lesson and often had headaches and stomachaches. Now, after eating lunch, we can concentrate much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otgontur, Student of Grade 11 at Tudevtei Soum School:<\/strong> \u201cSometimes we came to school without breakfast. Now it\u2019s great to eat at school every day. The food is tasty and filling.\u201d Before the project, students rarely visited the canteen, as lunch was expensive and lunchtime was limited, so we often went hungry.<\/p>\n

Purevdulam, local resident of Tudevtei Soum:<\/strong> \u201cParents are very grateful for the school lunch project for middle and high school students. Many students used to arrive at school hungry, even though the Tudevtei Soum school is in the center of the Soum. Now they are more active, and their academic performance has improved.\u201d On behalf of the students’ parents, we sincerely thank you for the Denan project.<\/p>\n

Naranzaya, local resident of Tudevtei Soum:<\/strong> A student easily gets hungry when they are transitioning from elementary school to middle school. Because they used to have regular lunch at elementary school and need more nutrition as they grow up. \u00a0For example, my son studies in the middle class. \u201cIn support of this view, paying 1,000 MNT per day for a nutritious hot lunch is not a problem for parents. Some parents give 100,000 tugriks per month for their children\u2019s lunches; the children spend the money on unhealthy, sweetened products, biscuits, and snacks. It\u2019s much better than spending more money on unhealthy snacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project is being implemented in partnership with Tudevtei Soum School until December 31, 2026. At the end of the project, a survey will be conducted, and the results will be presented to the local authorities.<\/p>\n

Additional information<\/em><\/p>\n

School lunch programs offer significant benefits for children\u2019s health, growth, and learning. Nutritious meals are vital for children\u2019s development, and research shows that hot school meals enhance educational outcomes. According to the World Food Program, these programs increase enrollment by about 9 percent, improve attendance, reduce dropout rates, and boost students\u2019 concentration, motivation, and academic performance. By addressing hunger, school meal programs support learning, promote health, and provide energy. They also deliver social and economic benefits, particularly for low-income families, by reducing food expenses and offering social protection. Overall, research confirms that school meal programs improve nutrition, strengthen education, expand access, and support economic development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Save the Children, with funding from the U.S.-based Denan, has been implementing a health project in Tudevtei Soum, Zavkhan Province, since 2025. As part of this project, a fully equipped new dental cabinet was established and became operational at the Soum health center in April 2025. In addition, a school-based Health Club was established and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23126"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23129,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23126\/revisions\/23129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethechildren.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}