Students line up to eat breakfast sold at 1,000 won ($0.77) at an university in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The agriculture ministry said Wednesday it will expand an initiative to offer breakfast at student cafeterias at universities for just 1,000 won (US$0.77) each.
As part of the project, students can buy a breakfast for 1,000 won at a school cafeteria. The rest of the cost will be borne by the university.
The project was introduced to reduce the number of young students skipping meals in the morning while promoting the culture of rice consumption.
The ministry had initially selected 41 universities for participation in the project, providing meals to 690,000 students. There has been, however, increasing demand for the project’s expansion.
In response, the government has doubled the project’s budget to 1.6 billion won (US$12.2 million).
The ministry as well as the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion & Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries will open up a new call for applications this month to recruit additional universities.
The 41 universities already participating in the project will now be allowed to expand the number of students they wish to provide breakfast support to.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
