Yangcheon-gu Establishes Educational Safety Net Through Implementation of 'Education Guardians' System

Integrated Support Including Learning, Psychological Counseling, and Care for At-Risk Children and Youth through School, Family, and Community Cooperation

Educational Guardian Consultation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) has been selected for the pilot project of the Education Guardian System organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and will implement the 'Education Guardian' project starting this month.

An 'Education Guardian' refers to a healthy neighbor in our community who has a high understanding of the integrated welfare delivery system and acts as a social guardian for vulnerable children. Through continuous meetings, they connect customized programs such as learning support, psychological counseling, and care, and monitor their effectiveness.

In an era where integrated educational welfare for all children is required, the Office of Education, Education Support Office, schools, as well as the district office, community service centers, and local organizations have united through the 'Education Guardian' project to build a new educational safety net based on cooperation between schools and the local community.

This project forms a 'Dong-level Educational Safety Net Council,' which knows the community best, to discover children who need various supports. Through this, all community resources are utilized to identify target children and establish a systematic support system to ensure timely measures such as education and care are taken.

Education Guardians can include retired teachers, parents, and community activists. After undergoing background checks including sex crime records and completing 30 hours of basic training, they begin their activities in earnest. Beneficiaries are children who need learning support and psychological counseling or are in complex difficulties requiring urgent care, selected upon recommendation by the 'Dong-level Educational Safety Net Council.'

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, stated, "The spread of infectious diseases, economic downturn, and widening wealth gap have intensified educational disparities, emerging as social issues." He added, "In response, Yangcheon-gu will build a more thorough educational safety net and spare no effort to provide necessary support so that children in educational welfare blind spots can grow into healthy members of society."

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