Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Announces '2022 Kindergarten Operation Basic Plan'

The Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced the basic plan for kindergarten operation through the 'Jeonnam Early Childhood Education 2022' online briefing session. Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] On the 25th, the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced the basic plan for kindergarten operation through the ‘Jeonnam Early Childhood Education 2022’ online briefing session for about 600 public and private kindergarten staff in the province.

This basic plan sets four goals for early childhood education this year: ▲realizing play-centered education based on the lives of young children ▲establishing an educational environment foundation that responds to future changes ▲building an autonomous and cooperative early childhood education ecosystem ▲strengthening the public nature and accountability of early childhood education.

To realize play-centered education based on the lives of young children, the Office of Education plans to strengthen the small kindergarten cooperation network to support joint establishment of educational plans and joint curriculum operation for kindergartens with one class.

In addition, they will accelerate efforts to activate lesson sharing with lead teachers, strengthen the role of on-site curriculum support teams, and diversify training to enhance teachers’ digital capabilities and the execution of play-centered education.

Building an educational environment foundation that responds to future changes will also be intensified. The future-oriented parent play classrooms will be operated more substantively, and the number of Happy Safe Kindergartens (35) and Future Kindergartens (11) will be expanded to improve safe play spaces and establish future-oriented educational environments, supporting the well-being and growth of young children who will live in the future.

In particular, they plan to support the holistic development of young children through strengthening character and democratic citizenship education, ecological environment education, reading education, and educational community solidarity among local daycare centers and kindergartens, as well as between kindergartens and elementary schools.

To this end, they plan to increase satisfaction for young children and parents by operating after-school programs centered on play and rest and providing demand-tailored care services. To recover educational deficits caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, they will operate an ‘After-School Play and Rest Center’ supporting language, emotional, and physical development.

To reduce the financial burden on parents, the early childhood education subsidy will be increased by 20,000 KRW compared to the previous year, providing 150,000 KRW per month for public kindergartens and 350,000 KRW for private kindergartens per child.

Private kindergartens plan to realize free education step-by-step by additionally supporting early childhood education expenses with the Office of Education’s own budget, and free school meals will be implemented by expanding meal support to children up to age 3.

Yoon Young-seop, Director of the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Division, said, “I am grateful to the kindergarten staff who devoted themselves to educational activities with dedication and passion despite the difficult COVID-19 situation, and I hope this year will be one where everyone’s efforts come together for the healthy lives and growth of our young children who will live in the future.”

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