Free lunch to all elementary school children would cost the nation about 3 trillion won ($2.68 billion) in the first five years, the parliamentary budget office said Tuesday amid heated political debate over the opposition's free school meal program.
The program will cost 695.5 billion won in the first year, the National Assembly Budget Office said in a report submitted to Rep. Kim Dong-sung of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
The report also noted that the country will need about 6.69 trillion won in the first five years if it decides to provide free meals to students attending elementary schools, middle schools and special-education schools for disabled children.
When high school students are included, the cost snowballs to 13.5 trillion won, the office estimated.
About 99.9 percent of the 11,312 elementary, middle, high and special-education schools in the country were running school lunch programs as of 2009. (Yonhap)