Busan Office of Education Allocates 270.7 Billion KRW for School Meals in 2023... Addressing Concerns Over Meal Quality Decline

Busan Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education has allocated 270.7 billion KRW for the 2023 school meal budget.

The 2023 school meal budget was organized to provide students with safe and healthy school meals and to address concerns about the decline in meal quality due to the recent rapid rise in prices.

The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will increase the unit price of school meals in 2023 by an average of 10% compared to the 2022 original budget.

Next year's meal unit prices are set at 2,750 KRW for kindergartens, up 250 KRW; 3,640 KRW for elementary schools, up 330 KRW; 4,650 KRW for middle schools, up 420 KRW; and 4,850 KRW for high schools, up 440 KRW, respectively.

The free meal budget totals 257.3 billion KRW, with the Office of Education covering 156.6 billion KRW, Busan City 77.2 billion KRW, and district and county governments 23.5 billion KRW.

Also, the budget for eco-friendly excellent agricultural products, which was previously supported only for elementary schools, will be expanded to include both public and private kindergartens starting from the 2023 academic year.

Kindergarten children will receive even safer and healthier eco-friendly meals in 2023, following the free meal support for kindergartens in 2022.

The cost for eco-friendly excellent agricultural products is 360 KRW per meal. The total budget is 2.9 billion KRW for kindergartens, 10.5 billion KRW for elementary schools, totaling 13.4 billion KRW.

Kim Beom-gyu, Director of the Office of Physical Education and Health at the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, “With the allocation of next year’s meal budget, we will strive to provide safe and high-quality school meals to our children so that both students and parents are satisfied with the school meals.”