Incheon Office of Education Expands Free Meals to All Kindergartens... Also Supports Eco-Friendly Meals

Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] This year, the targets for free meals and eco-friendly meal support in the Incheon area will be expanded.

The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 26th that following last year's implementation of free meals for kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools?the first among metropolitan cities?this year the program will be extended to public kindergartens.

To this end, the Office of Education has allocated a total budget of 3.1 billion KRW for free meals in public kindergartens.

While private kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools share the budget with city, county, and district governments to support free meals, the Office of Education fully covers the budget for public kindergartens. The cost is 1,500 KRW per meal per student.

Additionally, the Office of Education decided to provide 815 million KRW in budget to cover the price difference for eco-friendly premium agricultural and livestock products to 130 public and private kindergartens that wish to receive eco-friendly meals. This support, which compensates for the price difference when using eco-friendly ingredients compared to regular ingredients, had previously been provided only to elementary, middle, and high schools.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "To improve the quality of school meals, we have decided to increase the food expenses for elementary, middle, and high schools by 1%. For eco-friendly meals, we conduct demand surveys in advance and support kindergartens that want it, and we will continue to expand the number of target kindergartens."