All Public and National Elementary Schools in Jung-gu, Seoul Join the 'Jung-gu Style Elementary Care' Initiative

In March 2019, Jung-gu's First District-School Cooperation Model for Elementary Care Nationwide Begins...Full Implementation of Jung-gu Type Elementary Care in 9 Public Elementary Schools in the Area through Business Agreement with Sindang Elementary School

On the 3rd, Jung-gu Office, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Jungbu Support Office, and Sindang Elementary School signed a business agreement to operate the Jung-gu type elementary after-school care classroom. From left to right: Park Jung-jae, Principal of Sindang Elementary School; Seo Yang-ho, Mayor of Jung-gu; Kwon Hyuk-mi, Director of Jungbu Education Support Office.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) will implement the 'Junggu-style Elementary Care,' where schools are responsible for the space and local governments are responsible for operation, starting in September at all public elementary schools in the district.

Among the nine public elementary schools located in Jung-gu, Sindang Elementary School, the last one, has agreed to install and operate the Junggu-style care classroom.

To this end, on the 3rd, Jung-gu signed a business agreement on the operation of the 'Junggu-style Elementary Care Classroom' with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Central District, and Sindang Elementary School on the 3rd floor of the Sindang 5-dong Community Center.

The signing ceremony was attended by Seo Yang-ho, Mayor of Jung-gu, Kwon Hyuk-mi, Director of the Central District Office of Education, Park Jung-jae, Principal of Sindang Elementary School, and parents.

Jung-gu first introduced the Junggu-style Elementary Care, a district office-school cooperation model, nationwide in March 2019. After two years and six months since its introduction, it has expanded to all public elementary schools in the district with enthusiastic support from parents and has become a key model for the government's 'Local Government-School Cooperative School Care Center' project.

The Junggu-style care classroom is special in that it is operated fully reflecting the perspectives of the children and parents as users, as well as the care teachers.

While most existing school care ends around 5 to 6 p.m., the Junggu-style Elementary Care significantly extends operating hours from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., reflecting the realistic commuting times of dual-income couples. This is to provide complete care so that another helper is not needed after the care classroom closes.

Additionally, for children who stay in the classroom for long hours, the classrooms have been fully remodeled with eco-friendly materials, and high-quality activity programs such as robot coding, growth yoga, and webtoon drawing are operated more than six times a week.

Furthermore, the quality and stability of care have been enhanced through ▲ provision of excellent meals and snacks ▲ deployment of night care security guards ▲ support for re-entry after external activities such as academies ▲ sending notification texts to parents when children enter and leave the classroom. The service is completely free of charge.

Thanks to this, a survey conducted at the end of last year targeting 334 parents using the care classroom showed a 99% satisfaction rate. Heungin Elementary School, where the first Junggu care classroom was installed, increased its number of new students by about 20 last year and added one class. School officials said that parents from other school districts often call to inquire about the care classroom or request tours when it is time for enrollment.

Another strength of Junggu-style care is that it also pays attention to the treatment of care teachers.

When converting existing school care to direct management by the district office, all existing school care teachers are granted employment succession rights, and all care teachers with succession employment are hired as employees of the Facilities Management Corporation under Jung-gu Office.

Accordingly, care teachers are guaranteed regular salary increments and employment stability.

In addition, the introduction of a two-teacher system per classroom eliminates blind spots in care within the classroom, and activity programs are jointly developed and provided with the district office, significantly reducing the workload of care teachers.

This stable system especially shone during COVID-19. Even during the emergency care crisis caused by operating hours and staffing issues, Jung-gu was able to continue care through proactive responses such as strengthening quarantine measures.

Seo Yang-ho, Mayor of Jung-gu, said, "At a parent meeting held at Namsan Elementary School last November, I heard from a dual-income parent that thanks to the 'Junggu-style Care Classroom,' they were able to challenge a startup business this year, which gave me confidence that the Junggu-style care classroom is fulfilling its role." He added, "I hope that the Junggu-style Elementary Care, which started to overcome the decline in the young population in Jung-gu, will spread nationwide beyond the Jung-gu boundary and become a key to overcoming low birth rates."

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