Gyeonggi Office of Education Implements Senior Companion Program

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will implement the 'Senior Companion Program' starting next month to support educational recovery for middle and high school students.

The Senior Companion Program is an individual counseling system in which senior companions who have graduated and become adults from elementary, middle, and high schools in the province take care of the daily lives of their junior students, listen to their concerns, and provide advice. It is an educational recovery program promoted by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education among metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide.

Each school will accept applications from students who wish to share concerns about interests, career paths, family, and school life with seniors and seek emotional connection. Appropriate senior companions will be selected and appointed to mutually connect with the juniors. In cases requiring in-depth counseling, homeroom teachers and professional counselors will be linked.

Counseling will be conducted more than 20 times a month through SNS (Social Networking Service) or the metaverse (virtual extended world).

The Gyeonggi Office of Education plans to prioritize implementing the Senior Companion Program for 2nd-year middle school and 1st-year high school students until February next year, and expand the junior companions if students from other grades wish to participate.

The Gyeonggi Office of Education will collect results and field opinions on the operation of the Senior Companion Program until February next year and establish plans for the program for the following year.

Kim Beom-jin, Director of School Policy at the Gyeonggi Office of Education, explained, "Although students have spent more time at home due to COVID-19, the situation for family conversations and interactions has actually decreased due to nuclear families and an increase in dual-income households. The Senior Companion Program will create an extended family for students accustomed to non-face-to-face communication, making it a time for seniors and juniors to grow together."