Children in Seoul to receive evening care until 8 PM... Hub-type model considered premature

Judged Unfeasible to Transfer Numerous Schools to Education Support Office
Expansion of Care Time Including Treatment for Care Workers Underway

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has expressed a position to partially accept the pilot introduction plan of the Neulbom School announced by the Ministry of Education. While expanding care services until 8 p.m. is possible, the reason is that it is difficult to accept the operation plan led by the education (support) office, such as the hub-type care model.

The Ministry of Education announced on the 9th that it will introduce the Neulbom School project, which provides various types of care services including morning care, afternoon care, and evening care only to students who wish to participate by 2025. Within this month, four pilot sites will be selected through consultations with metropolitan and provincial offices of education, and pilot operations will begin at about 200 schools starting in March.

The core of the Neulbom School project is to create support centers within the education office or education support office to reduce the burden on frontline schools, and the hub-type care institutions established outside schools will also be managed by the education (support) office. However, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has stated that it is difficult to apply the Ministry of Education’s Neulbom School promotion plan as is.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained that since the number of schools under the education (support) office is larger compared to other regions, it is unreasonable to transfer both care and after-school duties. At a New Year press conference on the 10th, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, “Seoul has operated hub-type care under the jurisdiction of local governments until now,” and expressed reluctance by saying, “Considering the characteristics of Seoul, immediate application is not easy.”

A Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official also said, “The Ministry of Education’s Neulbom School promotion plan includes expanding care until 8 p.m. by integrally and thoroughly supporting care classrooms and after-school classes, and establishing support centers within the education office to reduce the burden of care and after-school duties on schools,” adding, “Among these, the part about transferring school duties to the education (support) office needs further consideration.”

However, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained that it will implement the plan to expand care until 8 p.m. starting from March this year. Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon said, “Since it was included in my campaign pledges, we decided to accept it early, so there is no major problem introducing it this year,” and added, “Supplementary measures such as converting care workers to full-time have already been agreed upon.”

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education recently extended the working hours of part-time instructors from 4 hours to 6 hours, enabling work until 7 p.m., and plans to use overtime work when working until 8 p.m. is required.