Kindergartens Unable to Hire Nutrition Teachers... Cho Hee-yeon Says "Nutritionist Recruitment Should Also Be Allowed"

Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon Proposes Amendment to School Meal Act
Only One of 495 Kindergartens Employs a Nutrition Teacher

After parents' persistent appeals, the special school Seoul Seojin School, which was difficult to open, held a 'School Open Day' event with local residents both online and offline on the 16th. Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, participated in major and vocational education activities, ordering and tasting beverages made by students. Seojin School was planned to be established in 2014, but due to strong opposition from some local residents, it opened last year after six years./Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Although the School Meal Act stipulates that private kindergartens must hire nutrition teachers, the majority of kindergartens have failed to recruit nutrition teachers, putting them at risk of widespread legal violations.

On the 5th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that even after 1 year and 7 months since the revision of the School Meal Act, only one out of 495 private kindergartens had hired a nutrition teacher. Even when private kindergartens post job openings for nutrition teachers, there are no applicants, and those holding teaching certificates do not apply to private kindergartens, making it difficult to bear the personnel costs.

Before the application of the School Meal Act, kindergartens hired dietitians based on the Early Childhood Education Act or the Food Sanitation Act. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education proposed revising the School Meal Act to allow kindergartens to assign dietitians or to defer the placement of nutrition teachers for a certain period.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, explained, "The duties of nutrition teachers and dietitians as presented in the law are mostly similar, but the difference lies in whether nutrition and meal education is conducted. In kindergartens, nutrition and meal education is not a separate subject but is conducted by homeroom teachers as part of daily integrated education, so it is sufficiently feasible to operate with the hiring of qualified dietitians alone."

The Office of Education pointed out that there was insufficient review of the practical conditions related to the placement of nutrition teachers in kindergartens during the revision process of the School Meal Act.

Since the enactment of the School Meal Act in 1981, elementary, middle, and high schools have been required to have dedicated school meal staff (dietitians), and since 2003, the act was revised to require the placement of nutrition teachers. However, the current placement rate of nutrition teachers remains at 83% in public elementary schools and only 36% in middle and high schools.

Superintendent Cho said, "It would not be too late to first expand the placement of nutrition teachers in middle and high schools, where the placement rate is low, and then create conditions to extend this to kindergartens."