Disputes on “School Lunch Program”

Provincial administrations are likely to support school lunch programs: South Jeolla Province yesterday issued “an ordinance on the food material use and support for the school lunch program.” It is stipulated in this ordinance that South Jeolla Province governor support part of the expenditures to purchase superior agricultural products for the school lunch program and to accept the applications from each schools in the province.

“Affairs on the school lunch programs are bolstered up by the judicial precedent of the Supreme Court on the provincial administrations’ affairs(‘an ordinance on the support for the facilities related to the school lunch program’, Nov. 29, 1996), and 49,549 citizens in the province made a proposal of this ordinance,” said a South Jeolla Province official, adding, “The Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Trade said this ordinance complies with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations as it is stipulated in the ordinance that materials for the school lunch is ruled with ‘superior agricultural products’, not ‘Korean products’.”

The education committee of South Jeolla Province voted for an ordinance on the school lunch program stipulating that the province administration defray a part of the expenditures supporting superior agricultural products on October 2. The education and environment committee of North Gyeongsang Province passed a similar ordinance on October 1.

In Seoul, the “movement for ordinance enactment on the school lunch program” was inaugurated and also in South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island. Associated organizations for ordinance enactment on the school lunch program through the efforts of provincial citizens and civil organizations participated.

Why the government opposes the idea: Ministry of government administration and home affairs cleared up its plan to file a lawsuit to the Supreme Court in order to stop the effect of this ordinance, saying, “According to the local administration act (article 112), separating the execution of local administration and educational administration, and law on the local administration (article 20, 40), affairs on education is beyond the provincial governors. So we can’t spend our budget without any legal authority.”

“We asked reconsideration on the ordinance enacted by the South Jeolla Province assembly, but the South Jeolla Province assembly passed the ordinance again without any revision and the provincial government promulgated this. There is no choice but for the government to file a lawsuit unless the South Jeolla Province governor doesn’t,” said ministry official on October 20.

“We agree to the intent of the ordinance, but relevant acts on the school lunch program have to be revised first if considering the current law system,” the ministry official added.

Movements for the ordinance enactment on the school lunch program are occurring in various parts including Seoul, Daegu, North Jeolla Province, North Gyeogsang Province, South Geyongsang Province and Jeju Island. If the current situation continues, similar plights that the government asks for reconsideration to the provincial administration will happen. If this is rejected, then they will file a lawsuit to the Supreme Court. This is a knotty problem.

Opinions of the experts: “The school lunch program is a crucial local administrative agenda including hopes to supply the best school lunch for the students’ health,” said Lee Jin-pa, a clerical workers’ chief of National Network for the School Lunch Program, and added, “The government should offer full support and should not be bound by laws.”

“The intent to improve the quality of school lunch is right. Therefore, general measures reflecting the requirements of the local administration will be announced this month,” a government official said. Meanwhile, according to The Korea Food and Drug Administration, 79 cases and 6,242 patients of the food poisoning broke out only in the first half of the year. 81 percent (5,063) of all cases were related to the collective food supply facilities including schools and companies.