Songpa Kiwoom Center Wins Grand Prize in Ministry of Health and Welfare's 'Together Care Project Excellence Contest'

Garak1-dong Kiwoom Center 'Rooftop Garden Farmer School'... Mental Care for Children Amid COVID-19

Emergency Care Online Lecture

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) announced on the 13th that the ‘Rooftop Garden Farmer School’ program held at Songpa Kiwoom Center was selected as the Grand Prize winner in the ‘National Together Care Project Best Practices Contest’ hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The ‘Rooftop Garden Farmer School (Farmer School)’ is a psychological quarantine program conducted at Garak 1-dong Songpa Kiwoom Center.

From July to October, the program was held 16 times, with about 30 children participating in each session, experiencing activities such as rice farming, planting sesame seedlings, making topiary, natural dyeing of handkerchiefs, and touching earthworms.

Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Urban Agriculture Division and the social enterprise Eco11 collaborated on this program.

The district explained that children, whose outdoor activities decreased due to COVID-19, were able to freely touch soil on the rooftop garden in the city and experience nature, showing a twofold effect of physical activity and recovery of tired bodies and minds, which led to good results.

Songpa Kiwoom Center is a place where elementary school students (ages 6 to 12) who need after-school care can enjoy learning and rest at desired times for an affordable fee within 50,000 KRW per month.

It is a care facility that the district is focusing on building with the goal of ‘an educational city raising children together’ during the 7th elected term.

Starting with the first branch in November last year, the number of branches has increased to 14 this year, and the 15th branch is scheduled to open in January next year.

In particular, as COVID-19 has prolonged this year and elementary school care has emerged as a social issue, the center has received positive responses from local residents by providing emergency care services and various activity programs based on thorough quarantine measures.

Additionally, the district provides diverse educational programs in elementary school care classrooms linked with its own education support system, ‘Songpa SSEM (Songpa Smart Education Model).’ Authors and community instructors visit classrooms directly or use online lecture videos to support crafts, art trips, reading, and traditional games.

Mayor Park Seong-su stated, “With a population of 670,000, Songpa-gu, the largest autonomous district in Seoul, has a steadily increasing number of elementary school children, accounting for 6% of the total population, so we are focusing on elementary care.” He added, “We will not be satisfied with this award and will continue to expand Songpa Kiwoom Center during my term to establish a complete care system without blind spots.”

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