Seoul to Promote Payment of Entrance Preparation Funds for First Graders... Next Year's Budget Set at 10.5803 Trillion Won

404 Billion KRW for Education Recovery Support and Kidari Saem
2 Trillion KRW Allocated to Bridge Public Education Gap

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has allocated a budget of 10 trillion won in 2022 to support educational recovery, customized education, and the creation of future-oriented educational spaces.

On the 9th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that it will submit a budget of 10.5803 trillion won to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, an 8.6% increase from this year's original budget.

The budget by sector is ▲ personnel expenses 6.5864 trillion won ▲ education administration institutions and school operating expenses 915.2 billion won ▲ education project expenses 2.2491 trillion won ▲ facility project expenses 637 billion won ▲ BTL repayment and others 192.6 billion won.

A total of 40.4 billion won has been allocated to reduce academic gaps caused by COVID-19 and support educational recovery. 13.5 billion won is allocated to support supplementary instruction for elementary school subjects, 14.2 billion won for basic academic responsibility guidance at middle and high school units, and 10 billion won to promote a culture of discussion and debate in elementary, middle, and high schools.

To bridge the gap in public education, 2.009 trillion won will be invested. 17.7 billion won will be spent to establish 13 public kindergartens, 522.4 billion won for the operation of the Nuri Curriculum (childcare and early childhood education fees), 3.4 billion won to support tuition for vulnerable young children, and 51.5 billion won allocated for private kindergarten support.

To reduce the number of students per class in elementary, middle, and high schools, 1.5 billion won has been assigned to create classes with 20 or fewer first-grade elementary students. 53.7 billion won will be allocated for the purchase of smart learning devices (Divet) for first-year middle school students and the digital tutor project, totaling 72.8 billion won. A total of 407.8 billion won has been allocated, including 15.9 billion won to establish a basic academic guarantee system for Seoul students and 16.6 billion won to support learning materials and classroom supplies as part of learning welfare assurance.

Starting next year, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will also provide entrance preparation funds to elementary school entrants. From this year, 300,000 won has been given to new middle and high school students as entrance preparation funds, with a related budget of 43 billion won. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is currently consulting with Seoul City and local governments, and plans to reflect the budget once consultations are completed.

497 billion won has been allocated for edutech and customized education. 1.2 billion won will be spent to build the Seoul-type Metaverse (extended virtual world) education platform, and 10.8 billion won is assigned to support education using information and communication technology (ICT), including the development and utilization of digital textbooks. Together with the Ministry of Education, 27.7 billion won will be invested in developing digital textbooks and building the K-Edu integrated platform.

A total of 611.1 billion won will be invested to create future-oriented educational spaces, including Green Smart Future Schools. 52 billion won will be allocated to the 'Green Smart Future School' project, which rebuilds or remodels schools over 40 years old, and 50.2 billion won for school space restructuring (Kkumdam classrooms).

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "The crisis brought by COVID-19 is bringing new changes to our education," and added, "The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will do its best to prepare alternatives for future education not only for the present but also beyond COVID-19."

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