Seoul City Councilor Ko Gwang-min: "Gangnam and Seocho School Cafeterias Unable to Hire Kitchen Staff... Students Bear the Consequences"

40.7% of Cook Assistants Vacancies Concentrated in Gangnam and Seocho

Goh Kwang-min, Seoul City Councilor.

Most public schools in the Gangnam and Seocho areas are struggling to fill the positions of school meal kitchen assistants, causing unnecessary harm to students.

According to data submitted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to Seoul City Council member Ko Gwang-min (Seocho 3, People Power Party) on the 8th, as of March this year, there are a total of 292 vacancies for kitchen assistants in public schools across Seoul.

Out of the 3,940 kitchen assistants needed to operate school meal services, 7.4% (292) are lacking. In particular, the Gangnam and Seocho areas recorded 119 vacancies, accounting for 40.7% of all kitchen assistant vacancies in Seoul.

Ko, who serves as the vice-chairman of the Education Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, pointed out, “If the current shortage of kitchen assistants responsible for school meals continues, schools with vacancies may face meal service interruptions or poor-quality meal menus, which could negatively affect students.”

Ko explained, “Recruitment is difficult because the job involves high labor intensity, low wages, and even risks of industrial accidents such as lung cancer. Although the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has proposed measures like supporting dishwashing equipment rental and installing cooking robots to address the recruitment difficulties, it has ignored demands related to improving the treatment of kitchen assistants, which is the fundamental cause of the problem. Given this, I am very pessimistic about any improvement in the current situation.”

Ko urged, “The education office should promptly prepare structural improvement plans that ensure the safety of kitchen assistants by improving their working conditions, such as raising their wages and installing ventilation facilities in meal preparation rooms. If the staffing shortage does not show signs of being resolved soon, they should take immediate action to normalize our students’ meal services, even if it means seeking help from external professional meal service providers.”