Jongno-gu Supports Dream Start Children's Remote Learning

University Volunteer Club Members and Dream Start Upper Elementary Children Become Mentor-Mentee for 1-on-1 Customized Education

Last Summer Dream Start Family Camp

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) is promoting the "Growing Together Mentoring" program, which supports non-face-to-face learning for Dream Start children, in collaboration with the Jongno Education Welfare Center until December.

Due to COVID-19, children who cannot attend school or use libraries mainly have to study at home, but low-income children often do not receive adequate learning support due to economic difficulties.

Additionally, learning support programs provided by the district have been suspended due to COVID-19, causing educational gaps among low-income children.

In response, the district has prepared a learning support program using the Jongno Education Welfare Center’s online platform to help low-income children study safely and effectively, reducing learning disparities.

Through this "Growing Together Mentoring" program, eight elementary school students in grades 4 to 6 among Dream Start children and eight members of the university volunteer club "Aeji" will be paired as mentors and mentees to receive one-on-one customized education on an online education platform.

In the first week of November, online orientations were held separately for mentors and mentees to guide them on the mentoring program and how to use the system.

The education sessions will be held eight times in total, each lasting two hours, until the end of December.

The district operates the "Growing Together Mentoring" Band to facilitate smooth program operation, deliver announcements, and collect feedback related to the program, encouraging continuous interest from parents.

Mayor Kim Young-jong said, "This program was initiated with the hope that children from low-income families will not be marginalized and will not give up on their studies and dreams. We will carefully monitor and provide generous support so that all children can grow up healthy while nurturing their dreams."

Dream Start is a project that provides customized integrated services to vulnerable children to promote their healthy growth and development and ensure equal starting opportunities. Jongno-gu has been implementing this since 2012.

The target groups include households receiving basic national livelihood security, near-poverty households, and legally single-parent families, and support includes health checkups, reading guidance, family counseling, and supplies.

This year, although most face-to-face activities were suspended due to COVID-19, continuous support is being provided for the healthy growth of vulnerable children, such as cooking ingredient kits for families to cook together at home, nutritional supplements to strengthen children's immunity, and toy sets.

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