Lunches suffer as schools battle cafeteria worker shortages

Cafeteria understaffing is causing major headaches in schools nationwide, particularly in Seoul, leading to concerns over student malnutrition.

A photo of a school lunch tray was uploaded to Seocho District Office’s website from the parent of a middle school student complaining about the poor quality of school lunches. [SEOCHO CITY OFFICE]

Cafeteria understaffing is causing major headaches in schools nationwide, particularly in Seoul, leading to concerns over student malnutrition.

An online photo of a sparse school lunch tray — featuring only rice, soup and one additional side dish — has sparked public outrage.

The controversial lunch tray was from a middle school cafeteria in Seocho District, southern Seoul. After a string of resignations left only two of nine cafeteria workers to manage the entire kitchen for 1,000 students, the school — following parental input — opted to cut down the menu.

The school principal expressed a sense of responsibility for the situation and said efforts are being made to explore all possible solutions. However, he highlighted the difficulty of addressing the structural issue of no one willing to work at the canteen.

A newsletter screen captured from a middle school’s website in Seoul idscussing school lunches. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, an elementary school with 1,000 students should have at least six workers in the cafeteria, including a nutritionist and a cafeteria team leader overseeing members. However, data from the office reveals that 42 of 58 schools, or 72.4 percent, in Gangnam and Seocho districts failed to meet this requirement.

Likewise, the Gangnam Seocho District Office of Education, responsible for overseeing educational systems in Gangnam and Seocho districts, had a cafeteria staff-to-student ratio of one to 115 last year, a far cry from that of the Jungbu District Office of Education in Seoul, which stood at one to 75.

Schools post job openings annually, but there continues to be a shortage of applicants. The Gangnam Seocho District Office of Education in Seoul sought to recruit 141 staff members last year, but only 29 applied for the positions.

This trend persisted in the latest job opening on March 1, where Seoul schools failed to fill 335 positions. Gangnam and Seocho Districts and Gangdong and Songpa Districts comprised over half of this deficit, falling short by 135 and 75 employees, respectively.

A cafeteria worker at an elementary school in Seoul cited low pay as a deterrent for applying to cafeteria positions.

“The restaurant jobs posted online offer 2.2 million won ($1,605) to 2.3 million won. Considering that new cafeteria workers cannot receive long-service benefits, a part-time job at a restaurant pays better, and the work is far less intensive than in a cafeteria.”

The basic monthly salary of a cafeteria staff is 1.99 million won, which is even lower than Korea’s minimum wage of 2.06 million won. Worse yet, they have no income during the three-month school break.

Cafeterias are severely understaffed, resulting in students missing out on fresh, balanced school food. One cafeteria worker said, “When understaffed, we simplify the menu to items like curry or pre-packaged products like yogurt. This makes it challenging to provide balanced meals and satisfies students less."

An elementary school nutritionist in Seoul complained about her inability to focus on cafeteria sanitation, as she has been dealing with persuading staff to stay or finding their replacements.

Superintendent Shin Kyoung-ho and event participants examine a frying robot during a demonstration and donation event held at Hansaem High School in Chuncheon, Gangwon, on April 29. [YONHAP NEWS]

The poor working conditions faced by cafeteria staff do not help, either. Last year, cases of lung cancer resulting from exposure to cooking fumes were recognized as industrial accidents.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is preparing to adopt robots to assist with food preparation. The move aims to lessen labor intensity and minimize exposure to cooking fumes.

However, critics argue that this approach overlooks the root issue of labor shortages. Even if robots can handle frying-related tasks, many schools still lack the minimum staff to run cafeterias.

As an alternative, the office is exploring outsourcing to private companies. However, this proposal faces opposition from unions concerned about job losses among public education officials.

Increasing the wage of cafeteria staff also presents challenges.

“Despite engaging in collective bargaining with public educational official organizations, the Ministry of Education and the 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education were unable to reach an agreement on the pay raise, mainly due to differing budget sizes among education offices,” an Education Ministry official said.

He also noted that improving treatment for a specific position — cafeteria worker — may lead to equity issues with other positions.

Park Sung-sik, a policy director at the Education Public Service Headquarters, stressed the need to address staff treatment.

"If the poor treatment of staff remains unaddressed, the issue of low-quality lunches will persist,” Park said.

BY LEE GA-RAM, SEO JI-WON, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]