Gyeongbuk Province to Implement Full Free Meals for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools Starting Next Year... Agreement Between Provincial Council and Office of Education

Starting from 2022, 3rd Year High School Students Scheduled Ahead by One Year from Original Plan

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Gyeongsangbuk-do announced on the 6th that it will implement free school meals for all high school grades starting next year, one year ahead of the original plan. As a result, 268,000 students from elementary, middle, high, and special schools in the province will benefit from free school meals.

On the 6th, Governor Lee Cheol-woo signed an agreement for the full implementation of free school meals for elementary, middle, and high schools at the provincial council, attended by Lim Jong-sik, Superintendent of Gyeongbuk Office of Education, and Ko Woo-hyun, Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council.

Gyeongsangbuk-do had originally planned to start free school meals for third-year high school students this year, expand to second-year high school students next year, and gradually extend to all grades by 2022. However, despite the difficult times including budget shortages due to COVID-19, the province decided to implement the program early to reduce the burden on parents and promote educational welfare.

Starting next year, along with the expansion of free school meals, the meal support system will be improved by separating food costs, labor costs, and operating expenses, which were originally included in the free meal budget. Accordingly, food costs will be shared by the province, city/county governments, and the Office of Education, while labor and operating costs will be fully borne by the Office of Education.

This will resolve the quality differences in school meals caused by variations in food cost proportions depending on school size (number of students) even among schools of the same grade.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo stated, "Although the provincial finances are strained due to COVID-19, we have advanced the full implementation of free school meals to ease the burden on parents. We will do our best to provide safe and healthy food so that students and parents are satisfied with the best school meals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.