GOYANG — A lawmakers' research group at the Goyang City Council in Gyeonggi Province gathered on-site views on how school meal programs are being run and on ways to expand the use of locally grown farm products.
The group, formally called the Research Group for Improving the Quality of Life of Goyang Citizens, attended a school meal policy roundtable hosted by the Goyang Special City Modu Education Alliance on Aug. 26 in the auditorium on the second floor of the Goyang Agricultural Technology Center, the city council said on the 1st. All members of the group took part, including its chair, council member Gong Sojah, along with council members Kim Jung-hee, Han Ju-yeon, Shin Ji-yeon and Cha Ji-hyun. Parents, a provincial council member and officials from the Goyang Office of Education and the Goyang city government also attended.
The discussion covered four areas. Participants first raised the condition of kitchen facilities and cooking staff at individual schools, along with the workload of meal service workers and difficulties in securing staff. They then turned to how farm and livestock products from the Goyang area are supplied to school meals, and to changes in local produce supply since Gyeonggi Province shifted to a province-wide supply system.
The Goyang City Ordinance on Support for School Meals provides a basis for giving priority to purchasing and supplying farm, livestock and fisheries products from within the city. The research group plans to check how far the system is working in practice and to examine what administrative and financial support is needed to increase the use of local produce.
"School meals are a policy that touches daily life, connected not only to children's health but also to the working conditions of meal service workers, the trust of parents, and the sales channels of local farmers and the local economy," Gong said. "We will look closely at conditions on the ground so that safe produce grown in Goyang is supplied to children steadily and also helps local farming households, and we will draw up workable alternatives."
Based on what was confirmed at the roundtable, the group will further review school meals and the local produce supply system, kitchen facility and staffing problems, and the effectiveness of related budgets and ordinances. It plans to gather views from relevant departments and from the field to prepare measures to improve policies and rules.
The research group is working through November of this year to identify policies that citizens can feel in their daily lives.
