Gyeongnam Office of Education to Completely Revamp Air Quality in School Kitchens

162.3 Billion KRW Invested by 2026

Comprehensive Ventilation Facility Upgrades at 894 Schools

The Gyeongnam Office of Education will invest 162.3 billion KRW by 2026 to completely upgrade the ventilation systems in the kitchens of 894 schools across the province.

On the 1st, the Office of Education announced that it will transform the kitchen environments of all schools to ensure the health and safe working conditions of school meal preparation staff.

By securing supplementary budget this year, it will first improve the kitchen facilities of 75 schools, and the remaining 819 schools will be upgraded gradually by 2026.

Gyeongnam Office of Education.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

According to the Office of Education, the project cost is expected to range from 30 million KRW to 300 million KRW per school.

There are a total of 970 cooking schools in the province, with 76 schools having already completed improvements.

Previously, since September last year, the Office of Education conducted a pilot project and research service to improve ventilation facilities in school cafeterias at 30 schools.

The pilot project and research confirmed that ventilation performance, including exhaust fan capacity and air velocity, improved approximately threefold, and harmful factors such as fine dust were reduced by about two-thirds.

The Office of Education decided to apply the ‘Gyeongnam-type Ventilation Facility Improvement Model’ reflecting these results.

According to the improvement model, hood partitions, which are not included in the Ministry of Employment and Labor guidelines, will be installed, and the positions and specifications of hood ducts and filters will be specified.

For cafeterias with low ceiling heights, hood heights will be adjusted to facilitate ventilation equipment installation, and heating and cooling efficiency will be enhanced more than twofold to maintain appropriate temperatures throughout the seasons.

To reduce cooking fumes (smoke) generation, the use of electric appliances (induction cookers) will be expanded from 11% to 33%, and menus utilizing ovens will be developed and distributed.

Additionally, schools with more than 100 students will undergo full ventilation facility improvements, while schools with fewer than 100 students and those with kitchens installed less than five years ago will have filter positions and specifications provided to maximize respiratory protection for meal service workers.

This year, lung cancer screenings will be conducted for meal service workers who missed screenings last year, regardless of their experience or age, and newly hired workers will also be included in the screening targets.

Yoo Sang-jo, Director of the Education Welfare Division, said, “To protect the health of meal service workers, we will do our best to improve the kitchen ventilation facilities in all schools by 2026 so that meals can be provided to children in a safer and more comfortable environment.”

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