Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Finalizes Next Year's Budget with Focus on 'Transition to Future Environmental Education'

2.6818 Trillion KRW... 375.7 Billion KRW Decrease Compared to This Year

Budget Allocation Through Selection and Concentration Amid Education Finance Crisis

The 2024 budget for the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has been finalized at 2.6818 trillion KRW. This represents a 12.3% (375.7 billion KRW) decrease compared to this year.

This budget utilizes revenue sources including 2.1243 trillion KRW from ordinary grants and other central government transfers, 246.4 billion KRW from local government transfers, 11.2 billion KRW from other transfers, and 40 billion KRW from self-generated income and others.

In addition, the 259.8 billion KRW shortfall caused by the decrease in ordinary grants was covered by the integrated financial stabilization fund and other fund reserves of the city education office.

The expenditure budget focuses on ▲ responsible care education ▲ student-tailored education such as digital-based educational innovation ▲ promotion of universal educational welfare ▲ and improvement of educational conditions for the transition to a future educational environment.

First, to strengthen the national responsibility for education and care, 169.8 billion KRW was allocated to the "responsible care education" sector.

To reduce parents' private education expenses, the pilot project for free after-school programs for first graders in elementary school will be expanded, and based on this, a plan to support free after-school programs for all first graders in elementary schools will be prepared by 2025.

Also, the 늘봄학교 (Neulbom School) will be promoted to provide quality education and diverse care services through the expansion of future-oriented and customized after-school programs and diversification of care types linked with local communities.

In the "student-tailored education" sector, including digital-based educational innovation, 105.8 billion KRW was allocated.

To establish a digital education foundation, the operation of AI and digital leading schools will be expanded, and the AI Factory future classroom will continue to be built and installed. Additionally, to activate AI and digital education, plans include building and operating an AI teaching and learning platform and strengthening student experiential activities such as AI, software, and coding education.

To prepare for future education using edutech, increased instructional hours for information subjects, the high school credit system, and digital textbooks to be implemented in March 2025, laptops will be provided to new first-year middle school students, and smart devices will be distributed to elementary schools.

To reduce parents' educational expenses and prevent students from being excluded from learning due to economic reasons, 243.7 billion KRW was allocated to educational welfare projects.

To ease the concerns of working parents sending their children to elementary care classrooms during vacations, 2.1 billion KRW was reflected for lunch provision costs in vacation elementary care classrooms. To provide students with safe meals using quality ingredients, the food material costs for elementary, middle, and high schools were increased by an average of 12%.

Furthermore, to support direct and indirect educational expenses necessary for school life and promote smooth educational activities for students while reducing parents' household burdens, the Dream Dream Support project will be launched in 2024 targeting third-year middle and high school students.

This will provide an annual support of 1 million KRW per person, including existing educational expenses such as entrance preparation fees and school trip costs, and plans to expand to all middle and high schools by 2026.

Finally, 312.8 billion KRW was allocated for improving educational conditions for the transition to a future educational environment.

To build a digital educational environment and establish a future education system utilizing edutech, 12 billion KRW was allocated for the electronic blackboard replacement project. This will support 1,000 electronic blackboards in 93 elementary, middle, and high schools, targeting those exceeding a nine-year durability period.

To continuously promote the Mom-Pyeonhan (Comfortable for Moms) restroom improvement project, 22.1 billion KRW was allocated (full renovation for 55 schools, toilet replacement and partial renovation for 35 schools) to provide students with restrooms as comfortable as their own homes and to make schools the safest and most comfortable spaces.

Also, to prevent respiratory diseases among school meal kitchen workers, 13.7 billion KRW was allocated for kitchen ventilation improvements (covering 70 schools, etc.) to remove cooking fumes and improve the hot and humid kitchen environment. Continuous investments will be made for a safe educational environment, including 16.5 billion KRW for asbestos tile and lighting replacement (28 schools), 24.7 billion KRW for Green Smart Schools (11 schools), and 19 billion KRW for Dryvit resolution construction (93 schools, etc.).

In particular, the Global Leader Around the World program, one of the most successful educational projects in 2023, will be continuously expanded by discovering new fields reflecting students' interests, concerns, and core competencies necessary for living in future society, supporting Gwangju students to grow as global leaders with a global citizenship mindset.

Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon stated, "Amid an unprecedented decrease in revenue sources such as local education finance grants, the education finance crisis continues, and we focused on efficient financial management through selection and concentration to ensure that students' learning and growth are not disrupted." He added, "Through the finalized 2024 budget, we will lay the foundation for our students to develop diverse skills and grow into warm-hearted individuals."