Prasert revealed that the Ministry of Education has introduced three approaches to solve the problem of school lunch fraud, creating the concept of a "Central Kitchen" to distribute meals to 4-5 schools in the area, allowing teachers to stay in the classroom and reducing their workload so they no longer have to stand cooking.
At 11:50 a.m. on 22 September 2026, Prasert Chantraruangthong, Minister of Education, said at the Government House that today at the Cabinet meeting, the Ministry presented the issue of investigating fraud related to the school lunch program. Since the lunch program involves subsidies the ministry receives through local administrative organizations, he emphasized that the Ministry of Education is not neglecting the issue. They have been working together with local authorities and the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), developing several approaches including:
1. The Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) has developed an operational manual as a guideline for implementing the school lunch program to ensure proper procedures.
2. Developing personnel, teaching systems, and the school lunch system in Thai schools, including nutrition and procurement processes. Using digital systems will aid in better monitoring and also address nutritional concerns.
3. Oversight: identifying schools that still face problems and obstacles in implementing the school lunch program.
. . . Prasert further stated that the Ministry of Education has a policy to establish central kitchens for school lunches. The ministry wants to reduce teachers' workload, allowing them to focus on teaching rather than cooking. He is pushing for central kitchens in each subdistrict to distribute food to schools in the area. This policy aims to solve fraud problems in the school lunch program. Under this policy, each subdistrict will have one kitchen supplying 4-5 schools, all meeting good nutritional standards. This reduces the workload of teachers in medium and small schools who currently have to cook and procure lunch ingredients. The policy has already started in some education zones.