For Our Child's Reliable Meal... Busan Office of Education to Increase Free Meal Expenses by 5% Starting September

Busan Metropolitan Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Duyul] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education plans to raise the meal cost unit price by 5% starting this September to alleviate concerns about the decline in meal quality caused by the recent rapid rise in prices.

School meal officials have stated, "Due to the recent surge in high prices, the cost of food ingredients has skyrocketed, making it very difficult to plan menus," and added, "Although we have implemented meals using various methods such as changing cooking methods or using substitute ingredients, it is essential to increase the meal cost to guarantee the quality and quantity of meals."

In response to the opinions of related parties, the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will coordinate with the Busan city government to prepare a supplementary budget of 5.8 billion KRW in total, including 4.1 billion KRW from the Busan Office of Education and 1.7 billion KRW from Busan city.

With the supplementary budget, the average meal unit price will increase as follows: for kindergartens, by 120 KRW to 2,620 KRW; for elementary schools, by 160 KRW to 3,470 KRW; for middle schools, by 210 KRW to 4,440 KRW; and for high schools, by 220 KRW to 4,630 KRW.

The meal cost unit price increase rate is set at 5%, considering the average increase rate of 4.8% in agricultural, livestock, fishery products, and processed foods from January to June 2022 consumer price index by Statistics Korea, as well as the continued price increases in the second half of the year.

The timing for supporting the increased meal cost is expected to be in early September when the supplementary budget is finally confirmed.

Ha Yun-su, Superintendent of Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "We will continue to monitor the price increase situation and actively reflect the opinions of schools to ensure that the quality of meals at frontline schools does not deteriorate."

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