Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Submits 3rd Supplementary Budget Proposal of About 10.8 Trillion Won Reflecting Impact of COVID-19

Budget Focused on Remote Classes and Quarantine Systems Amid Prolonged COVID-19 Outlook
Includes Costs for Advancing Free Education for 1st-Year High School Students Next Year

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is announcing the plan for operating in-person classes on the 18th at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in Jongno-gu, Seoul. This plan, which includes the Ministry of Education's phased and sequential in-person class announcement according to social distancing guidelines and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's detailed implementation measures, stipulates that for 3rd-year high school students, daily attendance is the principle, while 1st and 2nd-year students will operate on a biweekly basis by grade and class, combining remote and in-person classes. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 26th that it has submitted the third supplementary budget proposal amounting to 10.7925 trillion won, which is an increase of 661.1 billion won from the already approved budget, to the Seoul Metropolitan Council due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection.

This supplementary budget proposal focuses on allocating funds for remote classes and establishing quarantine systems in response to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. It is unusual to expand the supplementary budget three times.

The third supplementary budget proposal is composed using revenue sources of 146.9 billion won from central government transfers and 642.1 billion won from local government transfers, totaling 661.1 billion won, aimed at creating a safe educational environment from COVID-19 and advancing the early implementation of free education for first-year high school students starting from the second semester.

Specific expenditure items include 20.8 billion won for supporting personnel to strengthen quarantine activities, 1.7 billion won for purchasing additional quarantine supplies such as stockpiling masks for students, 4.5 billion won for purchasing temporary partitions for student meals, and 3.3 billion won for overtime wages of cooking staff due to extended school meal distribution. To establish a remote learning system, 15.7 billion won is allocated for teacher support, 37.4 billion won for internet communication fees and online learning devices for low-income students, and 17.7 billion won for wireless AP installation support across all elementary schools, special schools, and various other schools. Additionally, 14.5 billion won is allocated for advance payments to small-scale textbook printing companies, 3.5 billion won to support school operating expenses due to reduced fees for using facilities such as swimming pools and gymnasiums, and 18.4 billion won to support the operation of small-scale private kindergartens.

Meanwhile, to advance the full implementation of free education for first-year high school students, which will be fully enforced from next year, the Office of Education plans to allocate a total of 45.2 billion won this year for the second semester to support this initiative.

An official from the Office of Education stated, "We are preparing comprehensive measures so that schools at all levels can focus solely on operating remote classes and strengthening quarantine by utilizing purpose-specific funds allocated to each school that have not been executed due to changes in conditions caused by COVID-19."

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