Taipei: Taoyuan will expand its free milk program to include junior high school students beginning with the 2026 school year that commences on Aug. 31, the Taoyuan City government announced Wednesday.
According to Focus Taiwan, the expansion will add around 67,000 junior high school students to the program, which will now benefit approximately 280,000 students aged 2-15, from preschool through junior high school. Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng highlighted that the program aims to provide essential nutrients to students during a critical stage of their growth and development.
The initiative, which started in February 2026, currently offers one free milk or soy milk product per week to every preschool and elementary school student in Taoyuan. The city government reported that about 70 percent of eligible students participate in the program.
This announcement follows a similar move by Taipei to expand its free milk program to junior high school students, making Taoyuan, Taipei, and Tainan the only special municipalities offering free milk to this age group. Tainan provides one free milk product per week alongside school lunches. In contrast, New Taipei and Taichung offer free milk to preschool and elementary school students, while Kaohsiung extends the benefit to students at public preschools and elementary schools with their school lunches.
In addition to the milk program expansion, Taoyuan announced its free school lunch program will now include homeroom teachers and school meal coordinators at all elementary and junior high schools, benefiting 7,465 faculty members starting in the 2026 school year.
Mayor Chang stated that Taoyuan was the first of Taiwan's six special municipalities to introduce free school lunches for elementary and junior high school students in February 2023. The city has increased its annual budget to accommodate inflation and improve the quality of school lunches by incorporating high-quality local produce. The latest expansion is set to extend the program's benefits to frontline education workers.