A student eats her lunch with the seat next to her left empty at an elementary school in Gwangju on June 8, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — As public schools continue to offer remote classes, Seoul’s education authorities are offering vouchers to prevent children from skipping meals and buy food from local convenience stores.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Monday that it will team up with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, its 25 districts, and the Korea Association of Convenience Store Industry to begin the voucher program.
Education authorities will offer 100,000 won (US$89) in Zero Pay mobile points to each applicant among 560,000 applicable students in elementary, middle, and high schools receiving remote education.
Zero Pay is Seoul city government’s smartphone-based payment system.
The voucher can be used to buy 10 kinds of lunch boxes, fruits, and other food products reviewed by a panel of experts at all six convenience store brands from May 20 until July 16.
Purchases of instant food and caffeinated or carbonated drinks will not be permitted for voucher users.
Vouchers will be sent to the smartphone of each student over 14 years old or to their parents. An additional discount of 10 percent will be applied for each voucher transaction.
The voucher program is intended to cover students not participating in the ‘flexible cafeteria’ program, which allows online students to eat at schools, the education office said.
There are concerns, however, that students may be exposed to overconsumption of high-calorie, high-sodium food from convenience stores.
“Our expert committee has carefully selected what the vouchers can buy, based on established nutrition standard,” the office said. “The vouchers simply won’t work if users try to buy what’s not on our list.”
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
