Gyeonggi Office of Education to Hold 'Policy Dialogue Meeting' on School Meals

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will hold an educational meal policy forum.

On the 21st, the Gyeonggi Office of Education announced that it will hold an educational meal policy forum on the 22nd under the theme "Sustainable and Healthy Life! Student Participation in Educational Meals."

This forum was planned to reflect future educational meal policies by having students and staff from elementary, middle, high, and special schools in the province participate to discuss practical ways for a healthy daily life coexisting with nature.

In the forum, pre-registered participants engaged in group discussions focused on subtopics they selected in advance, including ecological environment and meals, food welfare, vegetarian meals, and educational meals, enhancing the specificity of policy proposals.

The Gyeonggi Office of Education plans to continuously expand opportunities to learn and experience ecological and environmental education, balanced nutritional dietary education, and low-carbon dietary education through school meals, especially as social consensus on these issues has grown amid the infectious disease situation.

Yoo Seung-il, Director of Student Health at the Gyeonggi Office of Education, emphasized, "Students should grow not as passive beings who only eat completed meals, but as democratic and global citizens who consider and practice care and responsibility from selecting ingredients to cooking and post-meal disposal," adding, "We will promote educational meal policies that cherish the thoughts of each individual student."

Meanwhile, educational meals refer to direct and indirect educational activities through which students form healthy eating habits via school meals and learn care and responsibility within the community to develop problem-solving skills. Parental opinions on educational meals will be collected through a Parent Academy scheduled for December.