Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul's First District to Provide 'Lifelong Education Scholarships' to All Residents

Providing a fixed amount to all residents... Pilot project launched in 2021 to enable learning at preferred times... Gradual expansion to all residents planned... Establishing a future-oriented lifelong learning system supporting competency development across all life stages

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced that it will be the first district in Seoul to provide lifelong education scholarships (tentative name) to residents starting next year and has begun research services for this purpose.

The Yeongdeungpo-gu lifelong education scholarship (tentative name) is a support fund system that allows any Yeongdeungpo resident to receive a certain amount of lifelong learning expenses and use it for learning purposes at their desired time. It is expected to be provided in the form of vouchers or learning accounts.

Due to structural changes across global society caused by the 4th Industrial Revolution, COVID-19, and the entry into a super-aged society, the future society is expected to have significantly increased uncertainty and anxiety factors.

In preparation for this, the district judged that customized competency education by life cycle is urgently needed to help residents proactively design and live their future and to prevent them from becoming socially disadvantaged due to knowledge and information gaps, thus promoting the lifelong education scholarship.

Since the lifelong education scholarship targets all residents, the district has initiated research services to establish systematic and rational measures through expert diagnosis and consulting to prevent administrative power and budget waste.

The district stated that through this research service, it will focus on analyzing the lifelong learning promotion systems of central and local governments as well as the policy effects of similar cases domestically and internationally.

Along with this, the district plans to conduct surveys on residents' lifelong education participation rates and preferences and hold town hall meetings to gather residents' opinions to achieve broad consensus on the lifelong education scholarship.

Based on this basic survey, the district will establish a mid- to long-term roadmap and phased implementation strategies, prepare legal grounds for the implementation of the lifelong education scholarship, and also prepare effective detailed implementation plans for the pilot project to be promoted next year, including ▲target recipients ▲scale ▲payment methods ▲usage.

Additionally, by preparing counseling services to help participants find suitable educational programs and policy evaluation plans to feedback the results of the pilot project, the district aims to establish a standard lifelong education scholarship system that ensures the pilot project becomes a sustainable program.

The district plans to organize various systems based on the research results, start the pilot project next year, and provide lifelong education scholarships to residents.

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “With the lifelong education scholarship, we will create a society without retirement where anyone can demonstrate their capabilities throughout their entire life cycle, and education, employment, and welfare circulate.” He added, “Through close cooperation with the central government, we will make the Yeongdeungpo-gu lifelong education scholarship a cornerstone of the future-type lifelong learning system.”

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