Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Expand Academic Opportunities and Education Allowances for Out-of-School Youth

MOU to Improve Discrimination and Strengthen Support for Out-of-School Youth

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family are expanding opportunities for out-of-school youth to participate in programs and increasing the payment of education participation allowances so that they can continue their studies even after leaving school.

On the 19th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Office of Education to improve discrimination against out-of-school youth and strengthen support. To ensure that out-of-school youth can pursue their dreams without discrimination, they will strengthen collaboration focusing on ▲awareness improvement ▲support enhancement ▲system improvement.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will work to identify and improve discriminatory elements against students and out-of-school youth throughout education policies and change eligibility for various program participation to ‘students · youth of the same age.’

They will form a pool of university student mentors to support the qualification exam support program for out-of-school youth and expand the operation of mentoring projects for educational, emotional, and career support.

For youth using the Out-of-School Youth Support Center, they plan to link education participation allowance support and discuss utilizing Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education resources to bridge the digital divide for low-income youth.

Since 2019, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been providing monthly allowances of 100,000 to 200,000 KRW based on school age to youth registered at the Out-of-School Youth Help Center who participate in educational programs for a certain period and meet the allowance payment requirements.

To connect youth who have dropped out of school to the public support system, they will strengthen information provision about the Dream Dream Center to students participating in the academic dropout reflection system and also provide guidance and promotion through the qualification exam registration website.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "We will expand comprehensive support for out-of-school students in cooperation with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and promote the comprehensive support plan for out-of-school youth as a mid- to long-term project so that the various ‘dreams’ of out-of-school students become a ‘shared forest.’"

Jung Young-ae, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, said, "Through this agreement, discrimination against students and out-of-school youth will be proactively improved across education policies by sector, and we will further strengthen cooperation and support so that youth can continue exploring careers and learning to achieve their dreams."

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