Tampering with school meals to make profit should be dealt with in the strongest possible way as it puts the health of the country’s youngsters at risk.

A middle school and high school in Seoul were found to have rigged the books to make illicit profits for the schools’ foundation in a special audit conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The office was acting on a tipoff from a whistle-blower.

The school foundation was ingenious in cheating the students. After purchasing 10 cans of cooking oil, four cans were stashed away and the remaining six cans of cooking oil were reused several times to make up for the shortage. It is well-known that reusing cooking oil repeatedly can be hazardous to health. Not only that, the foundation rigged purchases of basic kitchen supplies as well, inflating the purchases of disposable items. Altogether, the foundation was found to have misappropriated at least 154 million won in this manner. The foundation also raised 257 million won by claiming to have hired meal delivery workers without ever having hired them. The schools’ cooks were made to deliver the meals to the classrooms where the students ate.

Such schemes by a school foundation are deeply disturbing. School foundations ought to be dedicated to providing quality education for their students, but this particular foundation failed its students by profiteering from them.

The SMOE has filed criminal charges against 18 foundation officials involved in the scam. The authorities should impose heavy penalties against the foundation. Profiteering at the expense of the well-being of students who were served substandard food should be condemned in the strongest manner possible. Moreover, the foundation is also a repeat offender, having been charged with embezzling construction funds and committing accounting irregularities in 2011.

The authorities should also look into meals at schools throughout the country. It is more likely than not that other schools could also have misappropriated funds for schools meals at the risk of the students’ health.