Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Announces Basic Directions for Kindergarten Meals in 2022

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has finalized and announced the '2022 School (Kindergarten) Meal Basic Directions' to improve the quality of school meals and establish a safer meal environment.

According to the Office of Education on the 6th, the '2022 School Meal Basic Directions' were revised and supplemented by reflecting the Ministry of Education's related legal amendments and the opinions of school members. It contains detailed descriptions of a total of 36 tasks according to six major policy directions: ▲strengthening the operation of school meals ▲enhancing hygiene and safety management of school meals ▲using safe and excellent ingredients ▲nutritional management of school meals ▲support for school meal expenses ▲emergency operation management.

This year, the Office of Education is promoting free meals for all students in the jurisdiction and has secured a total budget of 196.5 billion KRW together with the city hall and five district offices. Among this, the Office of Education is bearing 136.3 billion KRW (69%).

Compared to last year, this year emphasizes new points such as ▲expanding the use of eco-friendly ingredients in all schools ▲increasing investment in facilities to ensure a safe meal environment for meal participants ▲strengthening support for schools' proactive response to infectious diseases ▲expanding open meals that enhance communication with students and parents.

In particular, to improve the quality of free school meals and seek systematic development plans for school meals, a school free meal TF team will be formed with practical officials from Gwangju City Hall and five district offices. They plan to establish a more efficient meal environment by deriving flexible adjustments to the resource sharing ratio and countermeasures against price increases.

Meanwhile, following the amendment of the School Meal Act in 2021, public kindergartens and private kindergartens with 100 or more children have newly become subject to the School Meal Act. The kindergartens subject to this law in the jurisdiction include 130 public single and attached kindergartens and 91 private kindergartens with 100 or more children, totaling 221 kindergartens.

The newly announced '2022 Kindergarten Meal Basic Directions' focus on securing food safety for young children and improving meal facilities and equipment. They plan to continuously support kindergartens through customized on-site hygiene consulting and regular inspections currently underway.

Additionally, by investing about 850 million KRW, they plan to improve the meal environment by supporting the purchase of meal utensils not only for private kindergartens with 100 or more children but also for private kindergartens with fewer than 100 children, which are excluded from the School Meal Act.

Kim Yong-il, Director of the Finance and Welfare Division of the Office of Education, stated, "Although it is a difficult time due to COVID-19, we will implement eco-friendly meals that consider students' health and strive even harder to create a safe meal environment for all school members."

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