‘Don’t underestimate a child’s ability’: school in China praised for outdoor kitchen teaching kids cooking and life skills

An outdoor kitchen in China is teaching primary students how to prepare and cook a variety of dishes under a new national curriculum

The outdoor kitchen initiative is supported by the students’ parents, who say it will help nurture the children’s culinary and coping skills

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A school in China that built an outdoor kitchen to teach students cooking and life skills as part of a new national curriculum has been praised for its initiative and trended online. Photo: SCMP composite

Published: 6:00pm, 1 Oct 2022

A primary school in China that set up an outdoor kitchen to teach students cooking and life skills has gone viral on mainland Chinese social media.

The outdoor kitchen at an unnamed primary school in Zhejiang province, eastern China, was covered in a news story on Star Video that has drawn substantial online interest.

The Chinese government recently introduced a new curriculum starting this month for primary and secondary students to improve their independence and learn life skills such as cooking.

Chinese children have long had a reputation for lacking independence and the ability to cope with life, the government hopes the new curriculum with its practical focus can change this. Photo: Shutterstock

In the video, a group of students in blue aprons holding kitchen utensils gather around the outdoor kitchen’s brick stoves which are shown next to a playground.

Once the cooking started, children are seen collecting firewood and then breaking it into smaller pieces and feeding the oven fires.

Other students prepare ingredients by carving chicken, shredding potatoes and whisking eggs.

Once the ingredients are prepared, the teams of students start cooking with woks. One team makes stir-fried scrambled eggs with tomato, while other teams stew chicken with diced potatoes, cook fish, and stir-fry cauliflowers.