Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Welcomes Post-Corona Era with 'Didimdol Semester'

18.3 Billion KRW Support for Psychological Therapy Costs
Project Also Operated for Social Skills Recovery

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has set a plan to operate the 2023 first semester as a stepping stone semester to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era. The aim is to restore students' academic levels, psychological development, and physical fitness to pre-COVID-19 standards.

On the 16th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced the 'Stepping Stone Semester Operation Plan' containing these measures.

First, counseling and treatment for students experiencing depression due to COVID-19 will be strengthened. To this end, four regional base hospitals and about 240 counseling and treatment institutions have been designated, and around 40 specialists have been appointed. A total of 1.83 billion KRW will be invested in treatment cost support projects.

Starting next month, 'Metaverse Psychological Counseling' will be operated for students who find face-to-face counseling difficult, and customized counseling will also be provided through Wee Centers and the Mind Health One-Stop Support Centers.

The integrated platform for counseling activities, 'Seoul Weepl,' is currently under construction. Seoul Weepl will offer counseling reservations, psychological tests, psychological and emotional data archives, and the Wee Network. Additionally, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will promote pilot projects to develop and apply programs for student depression, suicide prevention, and social skills enhancement in collaboration with local communities.

Policies targeting overweight and obese students who have rapidly gained weight during the COVID-19 period will also be implemented. This is in response to the increase in the overweight and obesity rate among Seoul's elementary, middle, and high school students from 26.7% in 2019 to 32.1% in 2021, a rise of 5.4 percentage points.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will support 1,400 school clubs with 2 to 4 million KRW per team and provide small-scale activity programs suitable for each school level through the '365+ Sports On Club' project. Alongside the existing 'Health Fitness Class' for students with low physical fitness (grades 4-5), the 'Digital-Based Smart Health Management Class,' which enables students to understand and manage their physical health levels independently, will also be strengthened and operated.

The 'One Student-One School Sports Club Activity' project will be enhanced to revitalize sports clubs at individual schools and diversify school sports club events at the education office level, expanding participation opportunities for female students and those with low physical fitness. Village-type school sports clubs linked with local communities will also be expanded to 11 schools.

Support will be provided so that all students can participate in school sports club activities, which are clubs taught by professional physical education instructors. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to send coaches from football, basketball, volleyball, and other sports associations to 130 elementary schools to teach basic skills.

The 'Good Relationship Building Project' for social skills recovery will also be operated. Through creating a positive peer culture, it aims to help students with diminished social skills recover and educate them on conflict resolution methods when conflicts arise.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will dispatch experts to 732 classes in 83 schools to conduct 'Positive Peer Culture Creation Education.' To encourage active student participation, it will support public elementary schools with 1 million KRW and middle and high schools with 2 million KRW for student-centered cultural arts and student self-governance activities.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "It is difficult to predict how and to what extent the COVID-19 era has affected children's minds, spirits, intelligence, psychology, physical health, and social skills. Through operating the stepping stone semester, we will do our best to support the healthy lives of not only students in crisis but all students."