Opening of Yongshin Branch of 'Kkumjaram Community Childcare Room,' a Specialized Early Childhood Safety Experience Center in Dongdaemun-gu

[Seoul District News] Dongdaemun-gu Creates Spaces to Promote Play, Education, and Care Community Culture for Children Under 5 · 8th Community Childcare Room in the Area, Experience Disaster Response to Traffic Accidents, Bus Isolation, Fires... Geumcheon-gu Hosts New Semester Parent Lecture ‘Preparing Parents for Immunity Pass’... Guro-gu Establishes Safe Walking Environment Near Schools... Jung-gu Supports New Daycare Enrollment Preparation Funds... ‘Songpa Kiwoom Center 2022 After-School Elementary Care’ Service... Yongsan-gu, Itaewon Global Village Center Woman Up Program

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) has opened the Kkumjaram Community Childcare Room Yongsin Branch on the 2nd floor of the Dongdaemun-gu Citizen Happiness Center at 89 Muhak-ro.

The community childcare rooms, supported by Dongdaemun-gu and operated by the Dongdaemun-gu Childcare Support Center, provide a safe play space for child care, equipped with books, toys, and support for play activities, thereby reducing the childcare burden on caregivers.

In particular, the newly opened Kkumjaram Community Childcare Room Yongsin Branch is a facility specialized in early childhood safety experiences, consisting of zones for fire safety experience, traffic safety experience, construction site safety experience, daily life safety experience, and an MR Zone (Mixed Reality Zone).

Through safety experience activities here, infants and toddlers can prevent safety accidents and learn how to actively respond in case of disasters. In the MR Zone (Mixed Reality Zone), they can experience various play activities in mixed reality situations.

The facility is available to children under 5 years old and their guardians, as well as daycare and childcare staff. Operating hours are Tuesday to Saturday (closed on public holidays) from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM (3 sessions per day). Reservations can be made in advance (priority registration) or on-site through the Dongdaemun-gu Childcare Support Center website, and usage is free of charge.

Dongdaemun-gu operates eight community childcare rooms with themes such as traffic, science, and safety, and is preparing to open the Hwikyung-dong branch soon.

For more details about the community childcare rooms, please visit the Dongdaemun-gu Childcare Support Center website.

Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, stated, “We are continuously expanding community childcare room facilities to create a comfortable and cozy play space for children and parents and to establish an open childcare environment. We will continue to provide high-quality childcare services to make Dongdaemun-gu a great place to raise children.”

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Seong-hoon) will hold a new semester parent special lecture titled ‘Preparing Parents’ Immunity Pass’ on March 11 for local parents and families.

This education, conducted at the Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center, was planned to provide customized growth opportunities for parents worried about their children’s school life during the COVID-19 era.

The lecture will be delivered live via Zoom by Dr. Hong Yang-pyo, Director of Leaders Brain, covering topics such as ▲Understanding school life after COVID-19 and new semester syndrome ▲Examining reasons why children struggle to adapt to school ▲Solutions to help children adapt well to school.

Applications can be made through the Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center website or by scanning the QR code on the promotional poster.

Geumcheon-gu expects that through this education, parents will better understand the psychology of children who experience stress in school life due to limited group activities and communication during the COVID-19 era and learn ways to help their children effectively adapt to school in the new semester.

Yoo Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “I hope this education will serve as a guideline to help children build healthy interpersonal relationships within school and community,” adding, “We will continue to provide various educational programs on the proper role of parents in child-rearing.”

For more information, please contact the Geumcheon-gu Youth Counseling Welfare Center.

Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Seong) is making every effort to strengthen safety in school zones in front of schools.

On the 8th, Guro-gu announced, “To ensure the safety of children commuting to and from school in the area, we will expand traffic safety facilities and deploy traffic safety instructors.”

The district will install 55 yellow traffic lights in three school zones: Sindorim Elementary School, Shinmirim Elementary School, and St. Peter’s School.

‘Yellow traffic lights’ replace the existing black traffic light frames with yellow, a color representing safety, caution, and children. This enhances visibility in school zones, alerts drivers, and encourages safe driving.

Since starting the project in 2018, a total of 268 yellow traffic lights have been installed in 23 school zones as of last year.

Traffic safety instructors will also be deployed to ensure safe commuting for children. The traffic safety instructor program is designed to protect children from traffic accidents and various crimes.

This year, the program will be conducted at nine elementary schools including Cheonwang Elementary School, Guro Elementary School, Onsu Elementary School, and Hangdong Elementary School. A total of 32 traffic safety instructors will walk the school routes during commuting hours to safely guide children.

Meanwhile, Guro-gu is also promoting a school commuting route improvement project around Gocheok Neighborhood Park (near Gocheok-ro 51-gil), a popular area used by many residents as well as children. The park surroundings will be renovated into a pedestrian-friendly space with slip-resistant design pavement to reduce vehicle braking distances, making it safe for walking.

A Guro-gu official said, “We are doing our best to create a safe walking environment so that children can commute to and from school with peace of mind,” and urged, “Please drive slowly in school zones to prevent traffic accidents involving children.”

Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) announced on the 8th that it will support kindergarten enrollment preparation expenses starting this year to reduce the childcare cost burden on parents.

The support targets a total of 42 kindergartens in the district, including 23 public kindergartens, 10 corporate/organization kindergartens, 3 private kindergartens, and 9 home-based kindergartens. Earlier this month, the district provided subsidies of up to 92,400 KRW per child to kindergartens to cover the purchase of enrollment preparation items such as uniforms, sportswear, hats, bags, notebooks, name tags, and accident insurance premiums.

Since 2019, Jung-gu has gradually expanded support for necessary expenses previously borne by parents, starting with field trip and special activity fees, and since last year, also covering specialized fees, vehicle operation fees, evening meal fees, and graduation album fees. With this enrollment preparation support, the district effectively covers all childcare costs for children enrolled in kindergartens.

To strengthen the public nature of childcare, Jung-gu has been promoting direct management of public kindergartens since 2019. This is the first attempt among Seoul’s autonomous districts, aiming to directly manage all kindergartens in the district by 2023. Currently, 14 kindergartens have been converted to direct management.

Direct management has greatly improved the quality of childcare services provided to children and the treatment of childcare teachers. Additionally, with full support for necessary expenses previously borne by parents, Jung-gu has ushered in an era of 100% free childcare.

Directly managed kindergartens provide eco-friendly meals consisting of one meal with four side dishes and seasonal fruits. To this end, the district raised the meal ingredient cost to about 4,000 KRW per meal, far exceeding the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s standard of 1,900 KRW for infants and 2,500 KRW for young children, making it the highest level in Seoul. The district also introduced cook allowances and improved working conditions by replacing old kitchen equipment.

Furthermore, two assistant teachers have been added, and support staff for cleaning and accounting have been separately provided to reduce teachers’ workload and ensure no child is neglected in classroom care. Various efforts are also made to boost staff morale, including providing treatment improvement allowances and operating stress counseling programs for staff.

Seo Yang-ho, Mayor of Jung-gu, said, “With the support for kindergarten enrollment preparation expenses, the district now fully covers the necessary costs previously borne by parents,” adding, “We will continue to improve the quality of childcare and care so that parents can entrust their children with peace of mind beyond just financial support.”

Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) is providing the ‘Songpa Care Center 2022 After-school Elementary Care’ service utilizing diverse educational infrastructure such as the district’s own education support system ‘Songpa Ssam’.

The district has been promoting quality care services aiming to fulfill the key pledge of the 7th local government term, ‘An educational city raising children together.’ As a result, it won the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s top award in the ‘Excellent Operation Category of Together Care Project’ in 2020 and the Children’s Rights Protection Agency Award in the ‘National Together Care Project Best Practice Contest’ in 2021.

Songpa Care Center opened its first branch in the second half of 2019 to address care gaps for dual-income families with elementary school children and has actively promoted the project. Currently, 16 centers serve about 440 children, with two more centers scheduled to open in 2022.

Songpa Care Center offers after-school elementary care services linked with the diverse infrastructure of ‘Songpa Ssam,’ which had 240,000 users in 2021. These include the ‘Person Library’ where residents can meet various celebrities and experts online and offline, the ‘Instrument Library’ where anyone can experience and enjoy musical instruments, and the Future Education Center offering education related to the 4th Industrial Revolution such as AI coding and autonomous driving, providing special education experiences difficult to find in schools or private institutions.

Additionally, the center runs seasonal ecological experience education programs titled ‘I am a Little Songpa Trail Explorer,’ utilizing the Songpa Trail connecting Seongnae Stream, Jangchi Stream, Tancheon, and the Han River along the outskirts of Songpa-gu. It also offers capacity-building education for care teachers for children with developmental disabilities, community projects linked with public institutions such as community centers and welfare centers, and volunteer programs.

Furthermore, the district plans to activate regional care councils including Songpa Care Center to build a seamless care safety net by linking public care institutions such as local children’s centers and schools.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “Strengthening public care is the most important issue for local governments in the era of ultra-low birth rates and COVID-19,” adding, “We will actively expand Songpa Care Center and utilize local human and material resources such as Songpa Ssam and Songpa Trail to create a care environment where the community raises children together.”

Meanwhile, Songpa-gu is a ‘Child-Friendly City’ certified by UNICEF according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2021, it ranked 4th among 243 local governments nationwide and 2nd among Seoul’s autonomous districts for advanced certification. It operates the largest number of 107 district-run kindergartens in Seoul and pioneered the introduction of ‘Night Emergency Care Services’ for infants and toddlers, leading progressive child care policies nationwide.

Last July, an empty bottle upcycling art class was held at the Itaewon Global Village Center.

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Sung Chang-hyun) will operate the ‘Woman Up’ program throughout March in celebration of International Women’s Day. The program aims to help foreign resident women naturally adapt to the unfamiliar local community culture.

The Woman Up program will be conducted online in real-time at the Itaewon Global Village Center (211 Itaewon-ro).

The courses offered include ▲Yoga (6 sessions) ▲Art (1 session) ▲Sexual Crime Prevention (1 session) ▲Women’s Oriental Medicine (1 session) ▲Legal (1 session). All courses are conducted in English and are free of charge (some material costs apply).

The yoga class, which teaches breathing and movements to relax the body and mind and relieve the fatigue of living away from home, will be held from March 15 to 31 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 PM to 2 PM. Participants need to prepare a yoga mat. The class capacity is 15.

The art class will be held on March 18 from 7 PM to 9 PM. It involves painting an abstract image of a woman using acrylic paint. Participants bear a material cost of 17,000 KRW. The class capacity is 12.

The sexual crime prevention class, taught by staff from the Yongsan Police Station’s Foreign Affairs Division, will be held on March 21 from 7 PM to 9 PM. It covers trends in sexual crimes, prevention methods, victim response, reporting procedures, support organizations, and self-defense techniques. The class capacity is 50.

The women’s oriental medicine seminar will be held on March 30 from 10 AM to 12 PM. It covers oriental medical management related to women’s bodies such as menopause, menstruation, and childbirth. The class capacity is 50.

The legal class will be held on March 31 from 7 PM to 9 PM. It covers maternity leave and parental leave standards, workplace sexual discrimination and harassment, and labor law knowledge. The class capacity is 50.

Foreign resident women wishing to enroll can apply by email by the day before the course starts (by March 11 for the art class). Email addresses differ by course and can be found in the March newsletter issued by the Itaewon Global Village Center. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sung Chang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “It is not easy for women to settle in a foreign land with different languages and cultures,” adding, “We will do our best to provide services for foreigners so that differences do not become discomfort.”

The Itaewon Global Village Center offers various services such as Korean language classes, cultural experiences, and life counseling to help foreigners settle. Since last year, it has also provided PCR test and vaccination information and quarantine guidelines in foreign languages, leading efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among foreigners.

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