Controversy over Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's push for low-cost bidding of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products for school meals

In order to reduce the cost of school meals, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education is pushing for a low-cost bidding for agricultural, livestock, and fishery meal materials, which has caused strong opposition from the local agricultural and educational communities. The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education sent a notice on July 24 to schools in the province regarding the "Improvement Plan for the Handling of School Meal Material Purchase Methods" to be implemented from October. This policy is due to the expectation of an additional financial burden of over 200 billion won starting next year, as the provincial office of education will fully cover the personnel costs of the school meal expenses, considering the inflation rate, among other factors. This follows a request from cities and counties to lower the burden ratio of meal expenses due to worsening financial conditions. The specific improvement measures include extending the purchase contract period from one month to ...