Chungnam Expands Support for Independent Living of Out-of-School Youth

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is focusing its administrative efforts on the independence and educational equality rights of out-of-school youth.

According to the province on the 8th, the so-called out-of-school youth who have dropped out of school in the region have continuously appeared, with 1,851 in 2018, 2,006 in 2019, and 1,407 in 2020.

The province plans to provide policy support so that out-of-school youth do not feel emotionally isolated and have opportunities to communicate with those around them.

First, from this year, the eligibility and duration of the Sesang Sotong Card support will be expanded. The Sesang Sotong Card has been provided since June 2019 in the form of a monthly transportation allowance of 50,000 KRW. From its introduction until last year, the eligibility was ages 9 to 18, and the duration was maintained at 8 months, but this year, the eligibility will be expanded to ages 9 to 19, and the duration to 12 months.

The province also plans to expand the card usage range to include cultural experience expenses, career development expenses, snack expenses, in addition to transportation costs.

Starting this year, support for meals at unauthorized alternative education institutions will also be promoted. Unlike free meals provided at formal schools, this aims to guarantee educational equality rights for out-of-school youth who have not received free meal benefits and to provide them with non-discriminatory food welfare benefits.

The province plans to support 864 out-of-school youth enrolled in alternative education institutions in 9 cities and counties within the province with a meal allowance of 4,000 KRW once a day for 180 attendance days. The total budget to be invested for this is 622 million KRW.

Meal allowance support will be provided in a form where the eligible person submits a meal application form to the alternative education institution, which then applies to the relevant city or county office quarterly to receive the funds.

A provincial official said, "Along with the continuous occurrence of out-of-school youth, emotional isolation issues are becoming prominent," adding, "The province will expand support so that these youth can continuously participate in social activities and achieve independence and self-development."

Meanwhile, the province is conducting a research project to improve the 'Out-of-School Youth Protection and Support System' to establish a fundamental system that supports all youth outside of school to receive equal benefits as enrolled students and to become independent members of society, in addition to the Sesang Sotong Card.

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