The Taipei City Government on Saturday said that it would independently finance a “milk for school-age children” policy to be implemented in April.
The policy was initially introduced by the central government in September last year as a four-year, NT$4.4 billion (US$134.37 million) program targeting elementary-school students with the goal of increasing students’ calcium intake and supporting the local dairy industry.
In particular, it aimed to help local dairy farmers compete with imports from New Zealand, as tariffs on dairy products from New Zealand were removed last month under the Agreement Between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation.
Photo: Taipei Times
However, the Executive Yuan in December last year announced the suspension of the milk for school-age children policy due to multiple problems in its implementation.
The Taipei City Government in a statement said that Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) decided the city’s Department of Education would raise the funds — estimated at NT$184 million — to continue the policy.
The program, scheduled to be implemented in April, would subsidize all public elementary schools and kindergartens in the city, while the central government’s original program would have only funded public elementary schools, the statement said.
The policy would arrange for students to use digital student IDs to obtain milk at convenience stores, it said.
A total of 184,000 students are expected to benefit from the policy, with students eligible to obtain one bottle of milk per week, while those who are lactose intolerant can opt to take a bottle of soy milk, it added.
Distributors would oversee logistics, provide coupons and facilitate pick-ups by collaborating with convenience stores, it said, adding that Renai Elementary School would lead the procurement process and is expected to conclude bidding processes next month.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chang Wen-chieh (張文潔) said she hoped the policy would be sustained long-term and is not just a one-time program due to the city government receiving an additional NT$40 billion in central government tax revenues this year.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chueh Mei-sha (闕玫莎) said the city government should ensure that the digital vouchers are simple to use and are not an inconvenience for students or parents.
Chueh also said that Taipei could collaborate with the New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan education departments on the policy to establish unified standards.
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