Ulsan Office of Education to Pilot Operation of Early Childhood School

Six Kindergartens and Daycare Centers to Operate Until February Next Year

Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education (Superintendent Cheon Changsu) announced that it will pilot the Ulsan-style Early Childhood School from September this year to February next year.

The Early Childhood School is a pilot project by the Ministry of Education aimed at exploring ideal models of integrated early childhood education and care institutions by type and establishing a support foundation to strengthen the public nature of early childhood education and care as a distinctive initiative of Ulsan.

The Ulsan Office of Education will operate the program by dividing kindergartens into three types (public independent, public annexed, and private) and daycare centers into three types (public/national and workplace, private and corporate, and home-based). Six institutions will be selected this month as participants.

As a pilot project, all interested young children will be guaranteed 12 hours of service, including a basic program (8 hours) and morning/evening care (4 hours), and will be provided with high-quality education and care programs.

In relation to this, a briefing session on the Early Childhood School pilot project was recently held for about 700 principals of kindergartens and daycare centers in the Ulsan area at the main auditorium of the Ulsan Education Training Institute and Hamwol Hall at the Jung-gu Culture Center.

At the session, Professor Kim Daeuk from the Department of Early Childhood Education at Gyeongsang National University was invited to explain the Ministry of Education's progress on integrated early childhood education and care and to introduce the integrated model school project in detail.

Subsequently, on the morning of the 24th, the Ulsan Office of Education held a working-level consultative body for integrated early childhood education and care, composed of officials from the education office and local government, to provide information on cooperation regarding the Early Childhood School. In the afternoon, a regional consultative body consisting of related organizations from kindergartens and daycare centers was held to share opinions on the Early Childhood School.

An official from the Ulsan Office of Education stated, "We will actively work to implement the ideal Ulsan-style integrated early childhood education and care model as soon as the relevant laws and regulations are amended."