Gyeongbuk Office of Education, 3 Billion KRW Spent on Products Made by Severely Disabled Last Year... Ranked 1st Among Provincial Offices of Education

Mandatory Legal Purchase Rate Exceeding 1%

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education purchased products made by persons with severe disabilities worth 3.035 billion KRW (1.28%) in 2023, which is 99.08 million KRW (0.29%) more than the previous year, exceeding the legal mandatory purchase ratio of 1% for products made by persons with severe disabilities.

The priority purchase system for products made by persons with severe disabilities mandates public institutions to prioritize purchasing products, services, and goods produced by facilities employing persons with severe disabilities?who face difficulties in competitive employment?by at least 1% of their total annual purchase amount. This system is implemented to provide social services and jobs to this vulnerable group and support their vocational rehabilitation.

Gyeongbuk Office of Education.

According to data announced last month by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education ranked third among 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, following Seoul and Incheon, in terms of total purchase amount of products made by persons with severe disabilities. Among provincial offices of education, it purchased the most products made by persons with severe disabilities.

This year, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education plans to continue activating the priority purchase of products made by persons with severe disabilities across various institutions by establishing priority purchase plans, awarding commendations from the Superintendent of Education to outstanding purchasing institutions (schools) in 2023, and analyzing and encouraging monthly purchase performance by each school (institution).

Additionally, the Education Committee of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council continuously urges the activation of local business utilization through administrative audits and other means. In particular, to ensure future employment activities for children with disabilities in Gyeongbuk, they are ordering the purchase of products made by persons with disabilities in the Gyeongbuk region. Accordingly, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education plans to further expand the priority purchase of products made by persons with disabilities within the region this year.

Lim Jong-sik, Superintendent of Education of Gyeongbuk, stated, “Contributing to the vocational rehabilitation of socially vulnerable groups through the purchase of products made by persons with disabilities holds great educational significance,” and added, “We will actively support the further expansion of priority purchases of products from social economy enterprises, including those made by persons with severe disabilities.”

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