Lukashenko's "great Cause" Turned Out To Be A Failure
- 3.05.2026, 10:26
Thanks, Cap.
Why Lukashenko's "great deed" with the organization of school meals turned out to be a failure. One can endlessly watch how fire burns, how water flows and how the Belarusian authorities fight themselves in this direction.
The improvement of food and reduction of waste was repeatedly demanded by Lukashenko, who, as propagandists assure, "keeps the issue under constant control".
And the other day Prime Minister Alexander Turchin discussed the organization of school meals with unnamed persons. The officials came to a stunningly fresh conclusion: "The main task is that school meals should be healthy and tasty, and the work of school canteens should be efficient."
Thank you, Cap.
If you don't have school-age children and you missed about all of this epic, let us remind you of the summary of the previous episodes.
Twenty years ago Lukashenko boasted that he had done a "great deed" - "he introduced school meals in the Chernobyl zone and then spread them throughout the country.
"I told the officials at that time: understand, our children have an opportunity to eat normally, but where the wages were low, and even now they still live poorly, how can they prepare a normal meal for a child? And when he comes to school, he will eat a good soup, a hot meal, and a salad". (Press conference for Russian journalists, 2007)
But it turned out that the matter was not so great. Compared to the 1990s, when "a child could not eat properly", the welfare of Belarusians has improved, the choice of products has increased, and today's pupils are not enthusiastic about school canteens. And not only them.
The governor periodically personally inspects schools. And every time he discovers unpleasant things. That in Minsk "children are fed with waste," then there are no draaniki on the menu, and there is little choice of dishes for the privileged. And they steal regularly. And there's a lot of waste, "it's become fashionable to throw away food. In short, everything is wrong, make it right.
The officials are trying. There was a time when they even introduced dumplings into the school menu. They removed fast food. They put in vending machines. They added sauces. Reduced sugar in tea. They invented a "nutrient analog" instead of fish. - They're gonna start using more convenience foods. And also - they will introduce more greens in the menu: spinach, sorrel, dill and salads.
But we can predict with almost certainty that the reform of school meals will not end here, and we are waiting for many more changes, with varying degrees of uselessness and effectiveness. And the problem will remain. Why?
Because the Belarusian authorities, starting with their leader, are firmly stuck in the Soviet past, where the main thing was to "clothe and feed".
Today both needs are closed much easier. And it would be necessary to move up the Maslow pyramid - where it is about safety, love, respect, cognition and self-expression. But they can't do it themselves and don't let others in.
There are no such options in the mentality of homo sovieticus, only memories of the most delicious sausage.
Because it is difficult to objectively answer where the school feeding system is better: in Poland, with paid but voluntary hot lunches, in Israel, where they feed in the after-school program, including special menus, or in Sweden, where meals are free (paid for by communes), organized on the principle of "buffet" and takes into account diets and vegetarianism. But the main thing is that children and parents have a choice. Not "eat what you're given" meals, with no opportunity to refuse. Alas, exceptions are rare in Belarus.
And because the system of school catering combines, which has been "covered" by the state for many years and has no competitors and public control, has no incentives to develop.
That's how we live, not having time to take the boiled noodles of "state care for every child" off our ears.
Alesya Matusevich, "Salidarnasts".