Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's Education Gap Solution 'Seoul Learn' Opens on 27th... Free Online Lectures for 110,000 Underprivileged Students

Service Launch for Low-Income Elementary to High School Students, Out-of-School Youth, and Multicultural Family Youth
Social Contribution by 8 Popular Educational Content Specialists Including Megastudy and Eduwill
Unlimited Access to Curriculum and Extracurricular Lectures, Weekly Online Mentoring Twice to Fill Learning Gaps

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] One of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's key pledges, the online education platform 'Seoul Learn,' will open on the 27th to coincide with the start of the second semester. Seoul Learn, which involves eight highly preferred educational content specialists such as Megastudy and Eduwill, is drawing attention to whether it can help reduce educational disparities between social classes.

On the 24th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will enable 110,000 people, including low-income elementary, middle, and high school students who have difficulty accessing learning resources, out-of-school youth, and multicultural family youth, to use 'Seoul Learn.' Anyone who wishes to use Seoul Learn can sign up as a member and freely and unlimitedly access popular learning sites such as Megastudy, Etoos, and Eduwill to listen to desired lectures.

Earlier, Seoul selected eight domestic educational content specialists to participate in Seoul Learn. For elementary students, Ice Cream Home Run and Eli High; for middle school students, Subakssi and Mbest; for high school students, Megastudy, Daesung MyMac, and Etoos; and for specialized courses, Eduwill. These companies agreed with Seoul Learn’s purpose of restoring the educational ladder and decided to participate as part of their social contribution.

To use Seoul Learn, users must check their eligibility on the site and then sign up as members. Seoul plans to minimize user inconvenience and eliminate concerns about stigma by introducing an ‘online eligibility verification service’ that allows users to immediately verify whether they are eligible for the service by entering only their resident registration number without any additional documentation.

The main services of Seoul Learn include unlimited access to curriculum lectures, extracurricular lectures, and mentoring for youth who feel that online lectures alone are insufficient. For curriculum lectures, users can select one preferred learning site among elementary, middle, high school, and qualification exam courses, and listen to most lectures provided by the selected educational company without limits.

There are two main types of extracurricular courses. One is ‘members-only lectures’ offering Eduwill content for youth preparing for employment, and the other is ‘open lectures’ that any Seoul citizen can listen to without signing up or logging in. Additionally, Seoul plans to produce its own content utilizing Seoul’s excellent resources. Currently in the planning stage, the goal is to provide this within the year. This includes offering educational content in a 3D metaverse space and creating content featuring successful startup companies in ‘Campus Town’ to help youth nurture their dreams.

Moreover, mentoring to support the reduction of learning gaps among Seoul Learn users will also begin. Interested individuals can freely apply on the Seoul Learn homepage and receive comprehensive one-on-one learning support twice a week for eight weeks. Additional applications can be made after the eight-week course ends.

To this end, Seoul operates the ‘Seoul Learn Mentor Group,’ consisting of 500 university and graduate students based in Seoul. The mentors fill gaps in learning that online lectures alone cannot cover and help develop self-directed learning skills through learning management and guidance. They also provide career and counseling support to youth needing emotional support. Seoul plans to expand online and offline mentoring services in cooperation with other institutions such as the University of Seoul, Seoul Volunteer Center (Seoul Donghaeng), autonomous districts, and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to enable more students to receive mentoring services.

Meanwhile, Seoul is closely managing PC distribution to ensure Seoul Learn users do not face learning disruptions and is also supporting learning materials. After COVID-19, Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, and autonomous districts jointly distributed about 60,000 PCs to support remote classes for low-income students. Seoul plans to provide additional support by linking with the city’s ‘Love PC Distribution Project’ if necessary. Five thousand learning materials secured through donations from private companies will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants through the Seoul Learn opening event.

Lee Dae-hyun, Director of Lifelong Education at Seoul City, said, “We will do our best to ensure that ‘Seoul Learn’ becomes a good precedent for youth to fully enjoy the rapidly changing non-face-to-face education environment and to bridge the learning gap deepened by COVID-19.” He added, “We will cooperate in various fields with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, including joint content development, linking Seoul’s remote class support platform, and jointly promoting mentoring.”

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