Support for AI education for children and parent education for multicultural families from June
Selected for 2024 Local Government Support Contest for Accompanying the Vulnerable... Secured 56.5 million KRW in city funds
Reflecting regional characteristics with the highest proportion of marriage immigrants among Seoul districts
Yongsan-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Park Hee-young) will work to close the educational gap for multicultural families from June until the end of this year. This follows the selection of the district’s “Welcome to KOREA!” project, supported through the Seoul City’s “Walking Together with the Vulnerable” public contest, marking the start of full-scale implementation.
According to Seoul City’s multicultural household statistics, from 2019 to 2022, the proportion of marriage immigrants among multicultural households in Yongsan-gu was about 22-23%, the highest among Seoul’s autonomous districts. During the same period, the proportion of marriage immigrants among all multicultural households in Seoul was 17-18%.
A Ministry of Gender Equality and Family survey also found that 88.1% of marriage immigrant women feel that “raising children is difficult.” The most challenging aspect of child-rearing was “learning guidance and academic management,” accounting for 50.4%.
The district aims to alleviate the difficulties faced by multicultural parents by reducing the learning gap through customized artificial intelligence (AI) education tailored to each child from multicultural families. The target group consists of 25 multicultural families residing in the area with elementary school children. Priority was given to economically vulnerable families and those with women from immigrant backgrounds, and recruitment was completed this month.
A district official explained, “There are limitations in conducting uniform educational programs due to differences in children’s learning and language levels. To address this, we decided to consider personalized education.”
The funding was secured through selection in Seoul City’s “2024 Walking Together with the Vulnerable Autonomous District Support Public Contest” held in March this year, obtaining a city subsidy of 56.5 million KRW. The project is being carried out by the district-run Galwol Comprehensive Social Welfare Center.
The project consists of ▲ AI education for children ▲ parent education ▲ parent-child physical activities ▲ summer vacation cultural experience activities.
Children’s AI education uses dedicated tablet PCs to conduct level-based learning. The curriculum covers all subjects, including Korean, mathematics, and Hanja (Chinese characters). Once a week, a professional teacher visits the home to manage 1:1 self-directed learning.
Parent education is held once a month, providing appropriate learning guidance methods according to the child’s developmental stage to ensure proper academic management. Education on parenting attitudes that parents should have beyond academics is also prepared.
To promote healthy development of children and enhance family intimacy, flying yoga sessions will be held once a month. During the summer vacation, cultural experience activities will include visits to water parks, which are usually difficult to access due to economic circumstances. In December, all participating families will gather for an evaluation meeting to conclude the project. The evaluation will include a satisfaction survey and discussions on future project development directions.
Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, stated, “Yongsan is home to over 2,000 multicultural families from 71 different countries. We will carefully look after our neighbors to walk together not only with multicultural families but also with various vulnerable groups in the community.”
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