Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Launches Education Expense Support Program 'Kkumdeulmi Voucher'

Expansion to All Middle and High Schools by 2026 Starting with 3rd Year Middle and High School Students

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 25th that starting from April, it will provide the ‘Kkumdeulmi Voucher’ to third-year middle and high school students to support educational expenses necessary for school life.

The ‘Kkumdeulmi’ project is a pledge project by Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon, which includes previously welfare-based subsidies (such as entrance preparation fees, graduation album fees, school trip fees, and field trip fees), and provides an annual voucher card worth 1 million KRW per student.

Students can use the voucher card for expenses such as purchasing textbooks and books, school supplies, study room fees, university application fees, and eyeglass purchases.

It can also be used for expenses paid to the school, such as training activity fees, school uniform and sportswear fees, milk fees, high school dinner fees, and dormitory fees.

The support targets are third-year middle or high school students enrolled in schools within the district who come from multi-child families (two or more children), low-income families, multicultural families, or North Korean defector families.

In 2025, the target will be expanded to second-year middle and high school students, and from 2026, the project will be implemented for all grades of middle and high school students.

The Office of Education is currently building a ‘Kkumdeulmi dedicated system’ for simplifying work processes, including verifying eligible recipients and real-time data analysis.

From the end of April, when the system is completed, parents will input information through a dedicated system on their mobile phones and schools will verify the accuracy of the information. Once selected as eligible, parents will receive a URL to apply for the voucher card, which they can then issue and use.

Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon said, “It is desirable that the state takes responsibility for educational expenses. The Kkumdeulmi project reflects my welfare philosophy, and we have prepared extensively over the past year,” adding, “We will do our best to ensure that all children receive quality education.”