Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Launches Emergency Livelihood Support for Educational Public Employees

COVID-19 Impact Delays School Opening... Advance Payment of Customized Welfare Benefits and Regular Bonuses

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education (Superintendent Jang Hwikuk) has launched emergency livelihood support for non-working employees during the vacation period who are not required to report to work due to the delay in school opening caused by the spread of COVID-19.

The Gwangju Office of Education announced on the 16th that it implemented emergency livelihood support measures for non-working employees during the vacation period on the 14th, following the Ministry of Education's nationwide additional closure order for kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools (March 2 to March 20).

Accordingly, non-working employees during the vacation period who are not required to report to work due to the delay in school opening caused by the spread of COVID-19 are expected to receive a significant portion of their salary in advance, greatly alleviating their livelihood difficulties.

The Office of Education plans to maintain the total annual wage amount for non-working employees during the vacation period and pay some allowances in advance.

Customized welfare expenses will be paid according to career length, ranging from 510,000 KRW to a maximum of 800,000 KRW, and half of the regular bonus, 450,000 KRW out of 900,000 KRW, will be paid in advance in March.

In particular, under this emergency livelihood support measure, non-working employees during the vacation period are guided to attend work for three preparation days in the third week of this month and receive the full fixed meal allowance of 130,000 KRW.

As a result, they will receive up to 1,250,000 KRW in advance this month, and including base salary and various allowances, the total salary for this month will be about 2,280,000 KRW, which is not significantly different from the amount received during normal work.

Safety measures have also been established for regular educational public employees who are working during the three-week school closure period.

▲ Paid sick leave (up to 25 days) or official leave granted for confirmed COVID-19 cases or those in quarantine ▲ Relaxation of paid use requirements for child care leave ▲ Active encouragement of family care leave use ▲ Introduction of telecommuting are representative measures.

Meanwhile, non-working employees during the vacation period account for 1,912 people in six job categories out of a total of 4,407 educational public employees affiliated with the Gwangju Office of Education (as of this year).

Non-working employees during the vacation period usually reported to work from March 2 every year when the semester starts. However, with the school opening delayed by three weeks due to COVID-19, the reporting date was tentatively postponed to March 23. As a result, March wages decreased, causing difficulties in maintaining livelihoods.

Superintendent Jang Hwikuk said, “Although the school opening was delayed for three weeks for the first time in the history of the constitution due to COVID-19, we will ensure that no educational public employee experiences a reduction in annual working days or total wages,” and added, “If the government decides to further delay the opening of kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools, we will establish and implement separate measures.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.