Gyeonggi-do Provides 'Education Disaster Support Fund' to Out-of-School Youth Aged 7 to 18

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will separately provide 50,000 KRW per person in educational disaster relief funds to 120,000 'out-of-school youth' in the province who were excluded from the educational disaster relief fund support provided by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 2nd that it will accept applications for educational disaster relief funds for out-of-school youth in the province from the 15th of this month until the 10th of next month.

The educational disaster relief fund is a project that supports elementary, middle, and high school students who could not attend regular classes due to COVID-19 quarantine measures by using unused school free meal budgets from local governments in cash or in-kind.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will provide 50,000 KRW per person to 1.66 million students enrolled in public and private schools in the province starting from the 15th of this month, according to the 'Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education Educational Disaster Relief Fund Support Ordinance.'

However, 120,000 out-of-school youth aged 7 to 18 in the province were excluded from this support target.

Accordingly, the province consulted with the Gyeonggi Provincial Council and promulgated the 'Gyeonggi Province Out-of-School Youth Educational Disaster Relief Fund Support Ordinance' last month to establish a legal basis for the payment.

As of the 12th of this month, out-of-school youth aged 7 to 18 registered as residents in Gyeonggi Province can apply for the educational disaster relief fund. Applications can be submitted in person at the city or county Out-of-School Youth Support Centers or via email or fax to these centers from the 15th of this month until the 10th of next month. If the registered address differs from the actual residence, applications can be made at the Out-of-School Youth Support Center of the actual residence, not the registered address.

If the applicant is under 14 years old and not subject to personal information collection, the application must be made through a legal representative such as a parent, not by the applicant themselves. Those aged 14 or older can apply either personally or through a legal representative.

The support amount of 50,000 KRW per person will be paid directly to the applicant's or guardian's bank account. For convenience, whether the applicant is an out-of-school youth will be verified directly by the province through the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education without requiring separate proof documents.

Once the eligible recipients are confirmed, the city or county centers will notify applicants of the payment status via text message on their mobile phones, and the funds will be paid sequentially from the end of November through December.

Currently, 31 'Out-of-School Youth Support Centers' operate in the province. These centers provide services such as independence support, welfare, mentoring, and mental health services to out-of-school youth. In particular, this year, various support projects are being promoted, including the establishment of an independence support allowance providing 200,000 to 250,000 KRW to out-of-school youth.

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