China's Ministry of Education has urged schools across the country to keep the prices of their canteen food stable with a special emphasis on universities and colleges.

All school canteens should provide sufficient middle and low priced dishes and cater to students from low-income families with cheap food, said an official in an online talk with www.gov.cn, the Chinese government's official website, on Tuesday.

Schools should subsidize big-pot dishes, or the food cooked in large amounts and of basic prices, rather than delicate and la carte food available at canteens, said Zhang Taiqing, deputy-director of the ministry's development planning department.

He said that college students are more likely to be affected by food price hikes because they usually have all three meals at school, while most of primary and middle school children only dine for lunch, if they are not boarding students.

Local governments should help students from low-income families by raising subsidy standards for poor boarding school students and increasing the allowance of social security for low-income people.

The soaring food prices in 2007 made it a great concern for students and the whole society whether school canteens will be able to keep the price of their dishes stable.

Campus canteens will still operate as semi-public-welfare business which enjoy favorable policies including waiver of tax and lease fees, and non-commercial charges for water, gas and electricity, said Zhang.

"Therefore, canteens should always consider students' interest, and be able to keep food price lower than the market price," he said.

Since the autumn semester of 2007, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance further reformed and completed the fund guarantee mechanism for rural compulsory education and standardized the subsidies for boarding school students.

The Ministry of Education issued seven announcements in a row, calling on local education departments and higher education institutions to be aware of the significance of stable canteen prices.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)