CHAPTER ONE
- BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.
Canteen services stated way back in the 18th centaury, food and
snacks are served as to the taste of the client. It may be seen as a
place in the military, factory, camp, school etc. where people may buy
food, drinks, sweets etc to eat. As advancement has set in, more
services are rendered aside the normal buying and selling of food in
modern canteens.
According to the Ministry of Health annual report, 75% of sicknesses
admitted in hospital are results of unhealthy food (MOH 2007), majority
of which are food serve in the canteen all over the country. It suggests
that eating from canteens without basic health consideration is like
signing your own death warrant.
Health often said is wealth, we should pay critical attention to the
food we eatand the environmental condition under which we eat if only we
want to create wealth. Nowadays, children are becoming far more
overweight in suburban schools, and on a personally view the schools
canteens are a definite place to blame. If you look at an average school
canteen, there is no respect for the weight of the child or no help for
providing the healthier option; it is all about making money to fund a
business. Ways of making the canteen healthier will be discussed and the
worst offenders to canteen obesity. Canteens are terrible; people line
up with their money, walk in and buy whatever food they want. There is
no mother in their ear saying to purchase a healthier option; there is
just a child who wants to walk in and purchase the best tasting and in
most cases fattiest options. As a personal view, to reduce problems like
obesity people who have the power to should try and bring in healthier
options, and encourage kids to eat them. There are endless possibilities
to making canteens healthier, you can just ban unhealthy food, you can
make it super expensive so know child can afford it or want to buy it,
or you can just ban the canteen in general. But unfortunately these
options won’t work because as much as people want to get rid of the
obesity in children you have to think of the people who work at the
canteen, as it is their job. A more productive way of improving canteens
is having both options to healthy and the bad but making the healthy
items appeals more to people. Or from a different approach you can have
the unhealthy food but make it smaller in amounts, so you will be having
less unhealthy foods, and then the students will be reduced to no
choice but buy healthy food or accept there own home made meals, where
the parents can control the healthiness of their children
- PROBLEM STATEMENT.
It is without doubt that many Ghanaians students one way or the other
eat food from a canteen and food cooked in their home as well. In the
tertiary institution as Ho polytechnic, canteen services serve food
ranging from breakfast to supper to snacks, special meals are also
served to customers.
Ghana like most developing countries; is struggling with the means to
provide a comprehensive solutions to bad health as a result of bad
eating conditions. The current system of ensuring sanitation in the food
served in the canteen, restaurant, chop bars, etc. has proven woefully
inadequate for the objectives circumspect
Places where better food in the Ghanaian context are served in a
hygienic condition are very expensive to customers, hence majority of
students, lecturers and non-lecturers in the universities, polytechnics
and colleges are unable to afford. In this regard eating food cook by
oneself has proven to be more beneficial in taste, cost, health,
preferences, etc.
Consequently many students in the colleges, polytechnics and
universities preferred preparing their own food. These have being easy
due to the increasing supply of gas cylinders and burners. These gadgets
are fast and convenient in the cooking and quite affordable.
Many canteens are subsequently getting out of business because they
lack modern facilities; there is no better furniture, sometimes food is
served in the open air with flies all around. As the existing once are
weeping for customers, others all about joining the search for
customers. This in one way has drastically changed the canteen service.
In spite of this some customers complain bitterly of being served left
over meal on regular basis.
The government through the school feeding programme is advocating on
serving better meal to children for massive nourishment but, this
programme covered only primary education which is even a pilot project.
However the senior high school boarding house students repeatedly
complain of rotten meal.
Whiles lecturers and non-lecturers (believed to have money) drive
extensively to far distant to enjoy good meals from expensive and
luxurious canteens; the less privilege who were believed to be student
tends to eat anything money can buy. These has be deviled the canteen
service in all institution; the basic even to the tertiary institutions.
- OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH.
- To determine whether there is any significant differences in the food bought by student, lecturers and non-lecturers.
- To determine whether there is any significant differences in the
factors which influence the population to eat from the school canteen.
- HYPOTHESIS
Null hypothesis: there is no difference between all k populations.
Alternative hypothesis: there is at least difference in two of the k populations.
Mathematically;
H0: K1= K2= K3= 0
Hı: Ki≠ 0; where ί=1, 2 and 3
Where ki =students lecturers, and non-lecturers.
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.
The study will bring us a fore insight into the importance of a
hygienic condition and the best food to be served. The research will
bring to light the socio-economic benefits of better feeding. The
researches will additionally increased knowledge in both condition of
service and the type of food to be served.
The analysis of this project will provide vital information that will
be useful to the government in policy and in decision making
specifically to the Ministry of Health (MOH) which is directly
responsible for the provision of public health services delivery in
terms of policy formulation, monitory and appraisal regulation of the
health services.
This study will also provide useful information on the popular
perceptions regarding the food bought by lecturers, non-lecturers and
students.
Furthermore the study will be useful to groups or organizations
currently working in Ghana and other developing countries in developing
national policies on the evaluation and regulation of the food hygiene
and proper eating habits in promoting safe, effective and affordable
product to all citizens.
Finally the research seeks to educate and give possible suggestions to the people on food and other health related issues.
- PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The primary aims of these researches are to analysis and evaluate the
conditions under which food is served and the time it is served and to
find out whether there is any significant difference in the food bought
by students, non-lecturers and lecturers,
- SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research is carried out in the Ho polytechnic community. It
takes into consideration a reasonable number of students, lecturers and
non-lecturers who one way or the other have ever used the service of a
canteen more specifically the Ho polytechnic school canteen.
- DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
In the entire ten polytechnics in the country, the services of
canteen cannot be overlooked by the student, non-lecturers and lecturers
population; however this study was limited to only a school in the
Volta region (Ho poly). Also the research is an observational study;
this is the key focus experimental study has being ignored.