Students and teachers in South Korea will need to find new ways of staying alert through the long school day, after the government said Friday it will ban coffee sales in schools.
Now the government wants to rule out any possibility of children buying highly-caffeinated drinks on campus, a spokeswoman from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, warning that students were turning to caffeine to stay up late studying and preparing for exams.
Under the move, which will take effect from September 14, coffee sales will be entirely prohibited from elementary, middle and high schools.
“Coffee will disappear from cafeterias and vending machines installed at schools”, the spokeswoman told AFP.
South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said students tend to resort to “energy drinks” and coffee containing milk to burn the midnight oil during examination periods.
The ministry warned of the health impacts of too much coffee, saying excess intake could cause nausea, an irregular heartbeat and sleep disorders.
South Korea is the seventh biggest importer of coffee in the world, according to the Korea International Trade Association, importing some $700 million dollars worth of coffee in 2017.
KITA says South Koreans drank an average of 512 cups of coffee each last year.
Source: Punch
