NÃO MEXA NA MINHA MERENDA: AVALIAÇÃO DOS ESTUDANTES SOBRE A ALIMENTAÇÃO ESCOLAR EM CORUMBÁ/MS

Abstract

The National School Meal Program is an extremely important public policy for ensuring food and nutritional security in Brazil, whose main objective is to offer food to all students in public basic education in the country (daycare centers and primary and secondary schools – at the municipal, state and federal levels). Foods that cover their nutritional needs throughout the school period, contributing to the growth and development of students, in addition to improving school performance. However, quality school meals in Brazil have many adversities and dysfunctions, the biggest of which is the budgetary matrix, as the amount transferred by the federal government is low and has a small counterpart from the states and municipalities and, in total, they are insufficient to that schools offer quality food throughout the semester. Therefore, the general objective of this research is to evaluate the Pnae from the perspective of students, children and adolescents who consume this food (or should consume it), being direct beneficiaries of this policy. Methodologically, this research (quanti-qualitative) was operationalized through bibliographical and documentary research and the application of 453 questionnaires with students from 4 state schools in Corumbá (MS). The main results show that the majority of students are women and mixed race. The right to school meals of nutritional quality has not been operationalized in state schools in Corumbá/MS, as it was evident that little hot food is offered (rice, pasta, salad, beans, meat, others), with a large dominance of ultra-processed foods in the snacks, such as juice, cookies and soft drinks. This affects the nutritional health of schoolchildren, especially since, for most of them, school meals are their main meal of the day. We are, then, faced with a management problem, particularly Administration, which has always played a crucial role in responding to and promoting transformative solutions and innovations in society, such as, for example, the evaluation of public policies, as was carried out in this conclusion work of course.