Public Recruitment of 98 Traffic Safety Instructors, Safety Guidance on Commute Routes for 40 Routes at 17 Elementary Schools
98% Parent Satisfaction, Largest Workforce and Scale among Seoul Districts with a Budget of 516 Million KRW
Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeong Wono) announced that it will start the Walking School Bus project to support safe commuting to and from school and to foster proper walking habits in line with the new school semester in March.
Based on a demand survey for prospective freshmen and 2nd to 3rd graders conducted earlier this year, Seongdong-gu publicly recruited a total of 98 traffic safety instructors for the Walking School Bus. Before the full-scale activities, traffic safety education was conducted on February 28 at the Seongdong-gu Office auditorium. During the training, participants learned basic traffic safety rules, children's behavioral characteristics, and countermeasures according to types of traffic accidents, thereby enhancing their professionalism and capabilities as traffic safety instructors.
The Walking School Bus project, meaning a "walking school bus," has been responsible for students' safe commuting since 2014. Traffic safety instructors patrol designated routes between schools and homes for one hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon throughout Seongdong-gu. They accompany elementary school students from 1st to 3rd grade with similar directions, ensuring their safety on the way to and from school.
Since 2022, Seongdong-gu has allowed children using after-school care rooms to use the Walking School Bus even during vacations, and from October 2023, the target was expanded to students attending after-school programs, earning recognition as the most exemplary operation nationwide. Currently, Seongdong-gu operates the Walking School Bus with the largest workforce and budget among Seoul's autonomous districts, investing 516 million KRW.
This year, the newly hired 98 traffic safety instructors will be responsible for the commuting safety of about 890 children on 40 routes across 17 elementary schools in the district. For each route, commuting information is shared in real-time with parents through online chat rooms to prepare for any emergencies.
A survey conducted in July 2023 targeting 612 parents using the Walking School Bus showed a high satisfaction rate of 98%. Parents expressed gratitude to the traffic safety instructors who take responsibility for their children's commuting safety and said they felt proud to live in Seongdong-gu. They also appreciated that their children could learn social skills and traffic safety etiquette on the way to and from school, and felt reassured by being able to check their children's safety frequently through the commuting notification service.
Jeong Wono, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, "Since various traffic accident risk factors exist around us, I hope the traffic safety instructors will pay special attention to the safety of children on their way to and from school with a loving heart," adding, "We will do our best to operate the Walking School Bus project more solidly to achieve zero traffic accidents involving children."
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