Gyeonggi Office of Education to Completely Revamp School Cafeterias... 224.4 Billion Won Invested in Staff Increase and Cafeteria Facility Improvements

Im Tae-hee, Superintendent of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, is visiting a middle school in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do to review the status of the self-selected meal program.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will increase the capacity of school cafeterias and invest 224.4 billion KRW to improve ventilation systems.

On the 14th, the Office announced a comprehensive plan to improve the working environment in school cafeterias, focusing on ▲improving working conditions such as ventilation systems ▲securing the health rights of cafeteria workers ▲improving the working environment through personnel allocation ▲strengthening safety and health measures to prevent industrial accidents.

The Office will prioritize improving ventilation systems in cafeterias located underground or semi-underground, schools with suspected lung cancer cases, and schools where full-time staff have worked for more than five years (168 schools). Based on a full inspection, 224.4 billion KRW will be invested by 2027 in schools that do not meet the ventilation system guideline standards.

Additionally, a dedicated task force (TF) for improving school cafeteria ventilation systems will be formed to devise improvement measures. To reduce the workload of cooking staff, at least one automated device and induction cooker will be installed in every school by 2025 to modernize aging cafeteria facilities.

The Office will also support lung cancer health screenings to secure the health rights of cafeteria workers.

Workers with more than six months of service will be included in the screening target group, and those with abnormal findings such as benign nodules will be supported for retesting without conditions. Furthermore, reliability will be ensured through screenings conducted by nationally designated lung cancer screening institutions, and the Office will directly settle payments with hospitals to reduce on-site administrative burdens.

Moreover, post-management for individuals with abnormal findings will be strengthened through consultations with health managers (nurses), support for follow-up examination costs, on-site health counseling, and customized health promotion programs.

The Office will also promote improvements in the working environment through personnel allocation.

The staffing standards for school cafeteria cooking workers will be improved to increase the workforce by about 360 people. The number of meals per cooking worker will be reduced to alleviate workload. Additionally, the pool of substitute personnel linked with related organizations will be expanded, and hiring procedures will be improved to minimize staffing gaps in cafeterias.

Park Man-young, head of the School Cafeteria Health Division at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, said, "We deeply regret that cafeteria workers have been working under difficult conditions and, in particular, have been diagnosed with lung cancer due to cooking fumes. We will prioritize this issue, which is directly related to the health of school staff, and strive to improve cafeterias."

Meanwhile, this comprehensive plan was prepared based on discussions from the ‘Council on Working Environment and Conditions in School Cafeterias’ between the Office and the Education Public Service Workers’ Union since April.

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