Busan Office of Education Significantly Reduces Commute Time for Special School Students

Resolving Long-Distance Inconvenience: Promoting a '30-Minute Commute Zone'

From now on, students at special schools in the Busan area will be able to commute to and from school within 30 minutes, regardless of the distance between their homes and schools.

The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education (Superintendent Ha Yoon-su) announced on the 20th that it will actively promote the project to guarantee a "30-minute commuting zone" for special school students to alleviate the inconvenience caused by long-distance commuting.

Currently, students attending special schools in the Busan area use school buses, private cars, walking, and other means for commuting, and among them, 806 students spend more than 30 minutes commuting.

To provide a better educational environment for students, Superintendent Ha Yoon-su announced at the "2nd Anniversary Press Conference" in July that he would guarantee a commuting zone within 30 minutes for special school students.

Since then, the Busan Office of Education has analyzed the commuting routes for students using special school buses and prepared route adjustment plans to reduce commuting times. Based on this plan, the Office has been consulting with special school officials on route adjustments since October.

As a result, by the end of February next year, one additional school bus will be deployed each to Busan Baehwa School and Busan Eun-ae School, where adjustments have been completed, and drivers and co-riders (commuting safety assistants) will be given priority support.

Administrative procedures such as school bus rental service contracts were carried out by the Office of Education. The two schools only need to focus on safe operation based on the principle of "from the farthest point to the nearest point when going to school, and from the nearest point to the farthest point when returning home."

The Busan Office of Education plans to thoroughly review the operation cases of the two schools and establish a separate plan to fully implement the project for all 15 special schools in the Busan area starting from March next year.

In addition, a full relocation of special schools to fundamentally solve the long-distance commuting problem for special school students is planned to be steadily promoted by 2030.

Ha Yoon-su, Superintendent of Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "Our Office of Education is doing its best to meet the diverse needs of the increasing number of special education students and to alleviate their inconveniences," adding, "We will continue to operate various projects, including guaranteeing the '30-minute commuting zone,' in a solid manner to enhance satisfaction with special education."