KT to Increase Senior Employment by Nurturing Senior ICT Experts

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 28th, KT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute and the Gyeonggi-do Social Service Institute. The three organizations will train 'Smart Care Managers' and create jobs for the elderly to address digital exclusion.

Smart Care Managers are senior ICT experts trained to provide IT education for the elderly. They will be responsible for delivering dementia prevention education to elderly living alone and teaching IT skills to bridge the digital divide in local communities. Under this MOU, ▲ the Korea Senior Human Resources Development Institute will oversee projects including budget support for elderly job programs, ▲ KT will handle education to reduce the digital divide, develop new job content for the elderly, and train Smart Care Managers, and ▲ the Gyeonggi-do Social Service Institute will identify service demand for Smart Care Managers within the region and support manager training education.

As a pilot, the three organizations will train and place 60 Smart Care Managers in three areas of Gyeonggi-do (Namyangju-si, Gwacheon-si, Uiwang-si) by December this year. Next year, the project will expand nationwide to a scale of 500 people. Anyone aged 60 or older residing in Namyangju, Gwacheon, or Uiwang can apply to become a Smart Care Manager. Selected managers will participate in a one-month training program and begin working in July. KT will utilize the IT education expertise accumulated over more than 10 years through its social contribution activity ‘IT Supporters’ to train Smart Care Managers. IT Supporters is a social contribution program composed of current and former KT employees sharing IT knowledge, which has provided education to reduce the digital divide for over 3.7 million people.

Lee Seon-ju, Head of KT’s Sustainable Management Division (Executive Director), said, “We hope that this public-private cooperation to create quality jobs will enable our senior generation to live healthier and more vibrant lives,” adding, “KT will continue to lead efforts to solve issues related to an aging society, including expanding smart care services.”

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