Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education Confirms 4.4057 Trillion Won Budget for Next Year... Free School Meals and Education for All High School Grades

3.7% Decrease Compared to Last Year... Overcoming Financial Crisis Through Reduction of Facility Project Costs and Operating Expenses

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] The Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education announced on the 15th that the '2021 Original Budget' was finalized at the 5th plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 320th Gyeongbuk Provincial Council on the 14th.

The initially approved budget for next year is 4.4057 trillion KRW, which is 170.4 billion KRW (3.7%) less than last year's 4.5761 trillion KRW.

The main reason for the decrease in revenue resources is that the ordinary local allocation tax, which is a transfer income from the central government, decreased by 270.6 billion KRW compared to the 2020 original budget due to COVID-19 and the worsening domestic and international economy.

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education set the basic direction for this original budget formulation by prioritizing national policy projects such as free high school education, while focusing on the efficiency of financial management due to the decrease in revenue resources, including reflecting an executable budget.

The major projects for next year include, first, allocating 74.7 billion KRW for tuition fees, school operation support expenses, textbook costs, etc., as part of free education for all high school grades.

Free school meals will also be fully implemented. The Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education initially planned to expand free school meals from the 3rd grade in 2020 to the 2nd grade in 2021 and the 1st grade in 2022, but decided to advance the implementation of free school meals for the 1st grade.

Of the 315.6 billion KRW budget for free school meals, 194.9 billion KRW for personnel and operating expenses will be fully borne by the Office of Education, and 120.7 billion KRW for food costs will be shared by the Office of Education, Gyeongbuk Province, and city and county local governments.

To create a safe and comfortable educational environment for students, budgets were also allocated for ▲ new school construction 26.8 billion KRW ▲ school facility expansion and renovation 87.8 billion KRW ▲ school sports facility improvement 9.3 billion KRW ▲ school meal environment improvement 12 billion KRW ▲ school facility educational environment improvement 258 billion KRW.

For building a future education environment such as online education, budgets include ▲ distribution of informatization equipment such as tablets for students 18.9 billion KRW ▲ activation of smart education and software education 8.6 billion KRW ▲ construction and management of internal computer networks 1.4 billion KRW.

Additionally, 183.9 billion KRW was allocated for the Nuri Curriculum support for education expenses and after-school programs for children aged 3 to 5, 5.4 billion KRW for after-school free pass and tuition support for children from low-income families, and 26.2 billion KRW for special education operation and support.

Superintendent Lim Jong-sik stated, "Despite the difficult educational financial conditions due to decreased revenue, we reflected essential budgets such as expanding educational welfare for education consumers and building educational infrastructure for future education," and added, "We will do our best to execute the budget so that all education consumers can be satisfied."

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