Gyeongnam Office of Education Produces and Distributes Nation's First 'School Meal Ventilation Facility Improvement Manual'

Policy to Improve Cafeterias in All Schools in the Province by 2026

The Gyeongnam Office of Education distributed the ‘Gyeongnam-type School Meal Ventilation Facility Improvement Manual’ to schools and education support offices in the province on the 27th.

According to the provincial Office of Education, the Gyeongnam-type manual was created for the first time nationwide to facilitate effective improvement of ventilation facilities in school meal kitchens and to help schools better understand the process.

Based on the results of a research project on the application and improvement plans of ventilation equipment guidelines conducted by the Changwon University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation from September 2022 to August this year, the manual was produced after several consultations with a dedicated task force (TF) composed of facility and meal service managers and school officials.

The manual includes ▲appropriate ventilation facility application plans tailored to school sites ▲work procedure guidelines ▲checkpoints for each implementation stage ▲detailed installation standards for ventilation equipment ▲contract procedures and contract practices ▲task instructions and supporting materials necessary for field operations.

To promote the ventilation facility improvement project, the provincial Office of Education plans to establish a collaborative system among related departments and operate a dedicated support team for on-site assistance, providing support for design documents and drawings review, construction site visits, and completion inspections.

Training on ventilation facility improvements will also be conducted for schools, education support offices, design and construction companies, and supervision firms.

In October, training will be held for design service companies, and in December, for construction and supervision company personnel. The Office of Education plans to announce this on its website so that any interested company personnel can participate.

From the second half of this year through 2026, the plan is to complete ventilation facility improvements in meal kitchens at all schools in the province.

Currently, 71 schools have completed ventilation facility improvements, and 159.5 billion KRW will be invested in the improvement projects targeting the remaining 903 schools.

Yoo Sang-jo, Director of the Education Welfare Division, said, “We expect that the annual ventilation facility improvement plans will proceed smoothly through the distribution of the Gyeongnam-type manual and the establishment of a school site support system,” adding, “We will do our best to protect the health of meal service workers and create a safe kitchen environment.”

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