By Na Jeong-ju
Starting his new job Thursday, Mayor Park Won-soon signed a plan to provide free lunches to 5th and 6th graders of elementary schools in Seoul from November, one of his campaign promises, Seoul City said.
The civic activist’s victory in Wednesday’s Seoul mayoral election is expected to provide a fresh catalyst to the free school lunch program and other reformist policies initiated by Seoul’s liberal education chief Kwak No-hyun’s, analysts said.
Currently, all elementary school students in Seoul, except for fifth-and sixth-grade students, are receiving free lunches.
Seoul City has decided to provide 18.5 billion won to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to finance the plan to provide free meals to all elementary school students in the capital.
It also plans to provide free meals to all middle school students by 2014.
Park is also expected to try to reshape Seoul’s policy priorities to develop more welfare programs for the poor, senior citizens and children, instead of pursing development-oriented projects initiated by former conservative mayor Oh Se-hoon.
During the campaigns for the by-election, Park expressed support for providing free lunches to all elementary and middle school students and intentions to work closely with the education office to improve the human rights of students.
He pledged to set up a food center to monitor the quality of food offered to students and ensure contamination-free, nutritious school meals.
He also vowed to strengthen a social safety net for the less-privileged and build more affordable apartments for the low-income families so that they can live without concerns about high housing prices.
“Park and Kwak share many ideas on reforming the country’s educational sector. Park’s election as mayor certainly bodes well for Kwak’s ongoing policies,” said a spokesman of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
In June last year, Park served as a member of Kwak’s transition committee after he was elected as Seoul’s top educator and helped create Kwak’s policy platform.
Kwak’s education reform had been thrown into doubt since he was accused of paying a rival candidate in return for his withdrawal from the election. Kwak dismissed the bribery charges and vowed a long legal battle to prove his innocence.
The prosecution began the bribery probe after then-mayor Oh resigned voluntarily in August following a defeat in a referendum on Kwak’s free school lunch program. Liberal groups called it a politically-motivated investigation.
Kwak’s involvement in the scandal has taken its toll on his education reform measures, including his flagship project to feed free lunches to all students.
Park is also expected to support the ban on physical punishment of students, which was implemented last year on Kwak’s instruction, and other measures to enhance students’ rights. Some conservative teachers’ groups have called for the removal of the ban, saying it is getting difficult for teachers to handle students when they misbehave.