This Dec. 2, 2021, file photo, unrelated to this article, shows a student receiving a lunch box at a high school in the southwestern city of Gwangju. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The state human rights watchdog has recommended the education ministry amend the school meal system to provide vegan lunch options to students, officials said Thursday.
The recommendation came after a civic group advocating vegan meal choices for students filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in June against the education ministry and some local education offices, including Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
The group claimed vegan students’ right to health has been violated because of school meals that do not provide vegan options.
Vegans pursue a stricter diet than other types of vegetarians, prohibiting consumption of all meat, fish and animal products, such as dairy and eggs.
The NHRC said it is difficult to view that vegan students’ right to health has been infringed upon, but still made the recommendation, saying the best interests of the child should be considered foremost in all children-related activities.
Vegan children should be able to choose school meals created with nutritional value that fits their beliefs, the NHRC said.
The education ministry and local superintendents claimed principals have the right to organize school lunch menus and education offices have put in efforts to diversify meal options.
The NHRC accepted the claim but called for prompt measures to reform the school meal system, saying it is true vegan options are not fully guaranteed at schools and continued restriction of individual’s choice can be discrimination.
“It is not impossible to guarantee vegan options with school meals in reality,” the watchdog said, noting that some local education offices have already done so on a trial basis.
After the NHRC’s decision came out, 19-year-old Lee Seung-ju, one of the petitioners, said he rarely receives plant-based school lunches and even those are not fully vegan.
“It is impossible to guarantee vegan students’ right to health by providing vegan meal options once or twice per month,” Lee said.
(Yonhap)
