Free school meals offered in 40% of Japanese municipalities

Tokyo, June 12 (Jiji Press)–A survey by the Ministry of Education showed on Wednesday that 43 percent of Japanese municipalities in fiscal year 2023 had offered free school meals or planned to do so. here the end of March 2024 of the fiscal year, mainly to help households raising children reduce their financial burden.

The number of these municipalities amounts to 775, according to the survey.

The ministry also released an estimate that it would cost about 510 billion yen per year to provide free school meals nationwide if the average meal rate in the country’s prefectural and municipal schools were applied to national and private schools. .

Based on the estimate and survey results, the ministry will consider a system to make school meals free across the country.

The survey was carried out on school meals in primary, secondary and other schools, in line with the government’s strategy to tackle low birth rates, with the aim of identifying problems with free school meal services , such as how to ensure equity among students.

(Copyright of Jiji Press, Ltd.)