Osaka city approved a plan Wednesday that will make it the first major city in Japan to offer free school lunches to all students at municipal elementary and junior high schools, as part of its economic measures to ease the burden on parents in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.
The meals will be offered from April to an estimated 165,000 students at 287 elementary schools and 128 junior high schools, regardless of their household income levels. The decision comes as city kindergarten, elementary, and junior high schools remain closed due to the new coronavirus but hope to reopen by late March.
The annual cost of providing the meals is estimated at ¥7.7 billion, which will be covered by current funds and not new taxes, the city says. Originally, Osaka had aimed to begin offering the free school meals from April 2021, but decided to move the schedule forward by one year due to the virus outbreak. The school lunches cost around ¥44,000 per elementary school student and ¥49,000 per junior high school student annually.
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