Board of Audit and Inspection Warns of Shortage of Public Kindergartens in Gangdong and Songpa, Raising Concerns Over Early Childhood Education Gaps

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Audit Points Out Issues in Public Kindergarten Placement... Problems Also Found in Elementary Students' Basic Academic Responsibility Guidance System Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] The Board of Audit and Inspection has revealed concerns about a gap in early childhood education due to a shortage of public kindergartens in the Gangdong-Songpa area of Seoul.

On the 1st, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of a regular audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. According to measures to strengthen the public nature of kindergartens, city and provincial offices of education are required to expand public kindergartens up to 40%, focusing on areas with low early childhood enrollment rates or high preference for public kindergartens.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "Seoul Office of Education plans to establish 26 out of 93 newly planned public kindergartens under the 'Early Childhood Placement Plan (2020?2022)' in the Northern Support Office, where the early childhood enrollment rate (98.9%) is higher than the Seoul average (94.5%)."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out, "Despite the Gangdong-Songpa Education Support Office area having a low early childhood enrollment rate (79.8%) and a high preference for public kindergartens (Gangdong-Songpa 68.7%, Seoul average 66.8%), there are insufficient plans to establish new public kindergartens, raising concerns about gaps in early childhood education."

Furthermore, the Board of Audit and Inspection noted that the Northern Support Office has not prepared an effective early childhood placement plan, as it decided to reconsider 20 out of the 26 newly planned public kindergartens due to reasons such as a shortage of vacant classrooms in elementary schools for attached kindergartens.

The Board of Audit and Inspection notified the Seoul Superintendent of Education to reflect the results of enrollment demand surveys as much as possible when establishing early childhood placement plans, so that the expansion of public kindergartens can be realized in areas lacking kindergartens, and to prepare expansion plans for public kindergartens considering regional early childhood enrollment rates.

Meanwhile, the Board of Audit and Inspection also pointed out problems in the operation of the Basic Academic Responsibility Guidance System by the Seoul Office of Education. The Board stated, "The Seoul Office of Education fully supported the amounts requested by schools (8 million to 20 million KRW) without reviewing the number of students supported per school," and added, "there is no clear selection criteria as 2 million KRW was additionally supported to 77 schools based only on internal consultations without specific standards."

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced, "It notified Superintendent Seo Uk to establish reasonable support criteria, such as linking the number of students receiving learning support at each school to budget allocation, to effectively achieve the purpose of the Basic Academic Responsibility Guidance System at the elementary school level to improve students' basic academic skills."

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