REPORTER:  

What’s for lunch? Many parents in Taiwan soon won’t have to worry about that question anymore. Over a dozen cities and counties plan to provide free school lunches for public school students, hoping to take pressure off parents.

George Hsieh (KEELUNG MAYOR):  

The main purpose is to alleviate the burden on parents as costs are high.

Lu Shiow-yen (TAICHUNG MAYOR):  

This free school lunch policy should be an overall government policy. Taichung will implement free school lunches in public elementary and junior high schools starting in the 2026 academic year.

REPORTER:  

The new program is expected to benefit hundreds of thousands of young students. But some mayors worry that funding such programs will take a huge bite out of their overall education budgets.

Huang Wei-che (TAINAN MAYOR):  

We will carefully consider our city’s finances. But we should also be asking do these counties and cities with large budgets and good salaries really need to use this method to keep flaunting their wealth?

Hou Yu-ih (NEW TAIPEI CITY MAYOR):  

We’ve been discussing school lunch programs for years as other cities are already implementing it. But New Taipei City has the lowest per capita budget among the six special municipalities despite having the most children to provide for.

REPORTER:  

New Taipei City accounts for over a sixth of elementary and junior high school students across the country. As the city struggles to find the funding to provide for all students, its mayor Hou Yu-ih is calling on the central government to help make free lunches a universal policy. But the Cabinet says the central government doesn’t have the funds.

Offscreen Reporter:

(Is there any [central government] capacity to subsidize school lunches?)

Cho Jung-tai (TAIWAN PREMIER):  

That’s for local governments to decide. I hope they can do a good job.

REPORTER:  

The premier blames the opposition party-led legislature for changes to the fiscal allocation law, saying it has led to funding gaps between counties and cities, and siphoned money away from central government coffers. Still, policy opponents worry that funding universal school lunches will mean making cuts to other educational needs.

Hsieh Kuo-ching (TAIWAN PARENTS’ EDUCATION ALLIANCE):  

After [changes to government revenue allocation] it seems that some cities have more resources than others. Once Taipei City announced its [free lunch program] many other cities followed suit. But there are still many other problems in education that need to be addressed.

REPORTER:  

With most of Taiwan’s cities and counties jumping to get onboard, the ones that haven’t committed yet to free lunches feel left out. Whether or not it should be adopted nationwide, will give those considering the policy some food for thought.