'Seoul Run' to Provide Learning Content to Low-Income Youth Starting Late August

Seoul City Establishes 'Seoul-type Education Platform Basic Plan'
Provides Curricular and Extracurricular Learning Content for Low-income Youth
Mentor Team Offers Customized Support for Online Learning Gaps
Forms 'Seoul Learn Online Mentor Team' with University Student Applications

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will begin providing learning content to low-income youth through the Seoul-type education platform 'Seoul Learn' starting at the end of August.

On the 9th, Seoul announced that it has established the 'Basic Plan for Building a Seoul-type Education Platform.' The core of the plan is to build an edutech-based lifelong education platform that expands its service target from youth to young adults and all citizens over three years through introduction, expansion, and stabilization phases.

In the introduction phase this year, Seoul will provide content to low-income youth who have difficulty accessing learning through the Seoul Learn site linked with the lifelong learning portal, as well as to out-of-school and multicultural family youth. Customized mentoring services will fill gaps and provide coaching to develop self-directed learning abilities.

Starting this year, Seoul Learn will offer online curricular and extracurricular learning content to low-income youth. Curricular content will be provided in a way that engages elementary students through games and popular comics, while high-quality excellent curricular lecture content will be offered to middle and high school students.

As extracurricular content, Seoul Learn will provide content introducing promising careers for youth interested in career and employment, creative content in the 4th industrial sector (such as coding education), and content to help prepare for professional qualification and certification exams (such as computerized tax accounting and Korean history).

Additionally, 'customized mentoring' will be supported to fill learning gaps that online content alone cannot cover. When mentees apply, mentoring will be provided both online and offline. Through counseling, mentors select learning goals tailored to the student's characteristics and offer career management, counseling, and curriculum recommendations.

From the end of this month, the Seoul Learn site will provide online learning content targeting low-income youth such as recipients of livelihood benefits, those in the lower 50% income bracket, out-of-school youth, and multicultural family youth. Once content for elementary, middle, and high school students is secured, students will be able to choose from various educational providers' content.

Seoul-based university (graduate) students will be recruited to form the 'Seoul Learn Online Mentor Group.' The first selection will begin on the 16th, with preference given to those holding teaching certificates. The mentor group will manage student learning progress, provide counseling, and recommend curricula remotely.

Starting next year, the service will expand to general youth and young adults, including extracurricular content such as music, art, and information technology (IT). By linking with excellent companies' educational programs, it will strengthen employment capabilities and support specialized mentoring for vulnerable groups. Practical content such as career experience and coding, lectures by renowned scholars, and information and services on future core occupations will also be provided.

From next year, the construction of the ‘Seoul-type Education Platform’ incorporating edutech will commence and is scheduled to be completed by 2023. A browser-based platform will be built to enable big data accumulation and artificial intelligence (AI) intelligent services. In 2023, the plan is to provide lifelong education opportunities tailored to life stages, such as strengthening employment capabilities for youth and re-education or capacity-building education for general citizens.

Furthermore, a participatory open space will be established where content providers can participate freely. Specific measures will be prepared through a ‘Study on the Development Plan for the Seoul-type Education Platform’ to be conducted this year.

Lee Daehyun, Director of Lifelong Education at Seoul City, said, "We have established the basic plan for building the Seoul-type education platform to eliminate educational disparities and restore the broken educational ladder. We will complete it as a lifelong education platform that supports all education needed throughout the life cycle of Seoul citizens, reflecting the direction of networked future education in line with the 4th Industrial Revolution era."

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