Lee Jae-myung "Expand Public Kindergarten School Buses to Private Kindergarten Level"

62nd Small but Certain Happiness Pledge
Metropolitan Area and Major Cities Kindergarten Commuter Buses, Public 23.7% vs Private 84.9%
Public Kindergarten Commuter Buses Expanded to an Average of 2 Buses per Kindergarten

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, promised on the 4th to expand school buses for national and public kindergartens and to allow students of attached kindergartens and lower grades of elementary schools to use the school buses together.

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, held an "Our Neighborhood Pledge" unboxing day on the 4th at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, introducing pledges from 226 local governments and speaking about the purpose of the event. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On that day, Candidate Lee revealed his 62nd small but certain happiness pledge on Facebook, stating, "We will further expand the school buses and personnel of the education office and increase national support." In line with the expansion of national and public kindergartens, the plan is to increase the operation of school buses and allow buses assigned to attached kindergartens in elementary schools to be used by lower-grade elementary students as well, significantly expanding support for children's commuting.

Specifically, the plan is to increase the average number of school buses per national and public kindergarten from the current 1.4 to 2.

According to the Democratic Party's election campaign committee, only three national and public kindergartens in the Seoul area operate school buses, and in the metropolitan and large cities, the proportion of kindergartens operating school buses is at the 10% level. As of 2021, among 4,959 national and public kindergartens nationwide, 2,350 (47.4%) operate school buses, which is about half the rate of private kindergartens (88.6%).

Candidate Lee promised to expand the operation rate of school buses for national and public kindergartens to the level of private kindergartens and to ensure that children can be safely seen off at their doorstep not only in rural farming and fishing villages but also in urban areas. He also added that, in consultation with the education office, support will be expanded to various situations such as long-distance commuting, children with disabilities, residents in areas with transportation difficulties, and children from dual-income families who have difficulty with commuting support at home.

Candidate Lee emphasized, "By expanding the operation of school buses for national and public kindergartens, children will be protected more safely, and the burden on guardians for commuting will be reduced."

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