Opening of Mapo-gu Seongmi Daycare Center... Analysis of the First Mock Exam for the 2023 Academic Year

[Seoul District News] Mapo-gu Strengthens Public Childcare by Expanding National and Public Daycare Centers, Creates Seoul-style Safe Kids Cafes; Dongdaemun-gu Holds Admission Briefing on March Mock Exam Results and 2023 College Entrance System; Gwanak-gu Promotes Academic-Industry Cooperation with Seoul National University; Dongdaemun-gu Recruits Lifelong Learning Program Participants from March 25; Gangseo-gu Office Staff Raise 11 Million Won for Gangwon-do Relief Fund

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Mapo-gu (Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun) held an opening ceremony for the replacement facility of the Seongmi Public Daycare Center on the 23rd.

The existing Seongmi Daycare Center had caused inconvenience to children and parents due to its cramped and outdated facilities. Accordingly, the district constructed a new daycare center three times larger than the previous area on a site adjacent to Seongmisan Mountain (basement 1 to 3rd floor, total floor area 590.21㎡), completing the relocation last month.

The opening ceremony was hosted by comedian Kim Kyung-ah, the Mapo-gu Women-Friendly City Ambassador, and attended by Yoo Dong-gyun, Mayor of Mapo-gu, the director, representatives of childcare teachers, and parents. Parents and local residents also participated in real-time via YouTube and the online platform Zoom.

In the first part of the ceremony, the main features of Seongmi Daycare Center were introduced, including the forest daycare connected to the Seongmisan Mountain walking trail and the large windows providing children with views of the green natural scenery. The second part was a talk show where participants communicated on five topics related to Seongmi Daycare Center via Zoom. The final third part moved to the front of the daycare center for the unveiling ceremony.

On the day, Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun said, “I thank the parents and daycare staff who trusted and waited until the new daycare center was built,” adding, “Mapo-gu officials are working together to create an environment favorable for having and raising children, and today is one of the fruits of that effort.”

The district announced its 2022 childcare roadmap toward becoming an advanced childcare district. The plan includes ▲strengthening public childcare through expansion of national and public daycare centers ▲creating safe play culture by establishing safe kids cafes ▲creating safe daycare facilities ▲expanding customized childcare.

“6 out of 10 children enrolled in Mapo daycare centers attend national or public daycare centers”

According to the ‘2018 Childcare Status Survey’ published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the top preferred childcare policy by parents is the expansion of national and public daycare centers. Mapo-gu is also expanding national and public daycare centers to meet the high demand from parents.

Although Dohwa-dong Hyundai Hometown Apartments is a large complex with over 900 households, it has had no childcare facilities since 2000, causing ongoing inconvenience to residents. The district is purchasing a first-floor house to establish a ‘home-type public daycare center.’ When it opens in May, it will resolve the childcare blind spot for apartment residents after 22 years.

Additionally, this year, two private daycare centers within apartment complexes will be converted into public daycare centers, expanding a total of four public daycare centers, with plans to increase the number of public daycare centers to 85 by the end of the year.

Combining advanced play with public childcare: Establishing ‘Seoul-style Safe Kids Cafe’

A public indoor playground called ‘Seoul-style Safe Kids Cafe’ will be created on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Mapo Childcare Support Center (71 Sangamsan-ro 1-gil), where children can play freely without worrying about weather or fine dust.

Beyond a simple indoor playground, it will provide care functions by professional childcare teachers and include a digital experience room incorporating information and communication technology (ICT).

Creating the safest daycare centers at the highest level

To create an environment where children can attend daycare safely amid COVID-19, the district provided emergency disaster relief funds of 1 million won per daycare center in February and distributed rapid antigen test kits to infants and staff in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

To boost morale among childcare staff, the district plans to increase and expand the scope of treatment improvement allowances and raise personnel support amounts for facilities hiring cooks that previously did not support cooks, aiming to provide high-quality meals.

About 1.1 billion won will be invested to repair 34 aging public daycare centers, and through detailed safety inspections, replacement construction will be pursued to create a zero-accident childcare environment with proactive safety measures.

Providing customized and niche vulnerable childcare services

This year, the district will increase the number of hub-type extended night daycare centers from 6 to 13 to support parents struggling with child-rearing due to dual-income households, and operate 365 open daycare centers that care for children during holidays and nights.

Furthermore, to provide professional and systematic care for preschool children with disabilities, the number of integrated daycare centers for disabled children will be expanded from 20 to 22, and two additional multicultural integrated daycare centers will be operated.

2023 Academic Year University Admission Information Session Online Lecture

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) will hold a ‘University Entrance Exam Briefing Session’ on the 30th through the Dongdaemun College Admission Counseling Center for students preparing for university entrance exams.

This ‘University Entrance Exam Briefing Session’ will be held online with the themes ‘Analysis of the March Mock Exam Results’ held on the 24th and ‘Understanding the 2023 University Admission Process.’ It will provide comprehensive explanations of admission procedures for students and parents, including predictions for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) based on mock exam analysis, expected to greatly help students establish strategies suited to themselves.

The session will be conducted by Kim Chang-mook, a teacher at Kyungshin High School dispatched by the Korea Council for University Education. Kim, a current teacher at Kyungshin High School (located in Jongno-gu, Seoul), plans to provide practical information on admission management methods that can efficiently respond to changing admission policies such as the Ministry of Education’s measures to strengthen fairness in university admissions, based on his extensive experience in career guidance.

The Dongdaemun College Admission Counseling Center holds five briefing sessions annually on topics related to university admissions by period. The March session will be streamed live on YouTube to prevent COVID-19 spread, and communication with students and parents will be enhanced through a Q&A session.

The briefing session will be recorded and made available as a video on the Dongdaemun College Admission Counseling Center website and YouTube channel for anyone to access.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol of Dongdaemun-gu said, “This briefing session was prepared to help close the information gap caused by the unprecedented prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the annually changing admission system,” adding, “We will continue to provide various admission programs tailored to residents’ needs to reduce private education expenses, improve admission rates, and lead Dongdaemun-gu to become a top educational city leading the future society.”

The Dongdaemun College Admission Counseling Center has been established and operated since 2017 to provide admission information on rapidly changing university entrance policies and support one-on-one customized admission consulting. It is located on the 9th floor of Dongdaemun-gu Office. For detailed information on information provision or counseling, contact the Education Support Division of Dongdaemun-gu Office by phone.

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) will conduct various lifelong education programs from March in cooperation with Seoul National University (President Oh Se-jung).

The district annually promotes academic-institution cooperation projects with Seoul National University to provide lifelong learning opportunities to local residents by utilizing the university’s excellent human resources and facilities.

In the first half of this year, four courses will be offered: Gyujanggak Friday Citizen Lectures, Museum Wednesday Liberal Arts Lectures, 50s-60s Golden Well-being Exercise Lectures, and Art Museum Modern Art Culture Lectures.

First, the ‘Gyujanggak Friday Citizen Lectures’ began online on the 18th, inviting experts from various fields every Friday for 12 sessions under the theme ‘Koreans Who Went to the World.’ The ‘Museum Wednesday Liberal Arts Lectures’ will be held online every Wednesday from March 23 for 10 sessions on the theme ‘Buddhist Art of Asia.’

Especially, the ‘50s-60s Golden Well-being Exercise’ program, which provides customized exercise prescriptions through health checks for Gwanak-gu residents in their 50s and 60s, was fully subscribed. The program involves instructors from the Health Exercise Science Laboratory of the Department of Physical Education at Seoul National University’s College of Education, starting with preliminary tests in the fourth week of March and conducted at Seoul National University.

The ‘Art Museum Modern Art Culture Lectures’ (photo) will invite Seoul National University professors and experts in the field to conduct 12 online lectures every Thursday from April 7 on the theme ‘World Modern Art History.’ Currently, 100 Gwanak-gu residents are being recruited, and applications can be made through the Seoul National University Art Museum website.

Residents who could not participate in the first half courses due to limited capacity can register for the second half courses starting in early September. The ‘Gwanak Citizen University,’ which was temporarily suspended due to COVID-19, will also be operated in the second half of this year.

‘Gwanak Citizen University’ is a representative lifelong learning program of Gwanak-gu that provides residents with opportunities to directly attend lectures by Seoul National University professors, satisfying high educational demands.

A district official said, “The academic-institution cooperation project is a program designed to share excellent local infrastructure with residents and provide quality educational services,” adding, “We will continue to cooperate with Seoul National University to develop and operate various programs to cultivate residents’ humanities literacy and knowledge.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) is recruiting the first batch of students and volunteer instructors for the ‘Dongdaemun Talent Sharing School’ in 2022.

‘Dongdaemun Talent Sharing School’ is an educational program operated through a new form of donation where individuals contribute their knowledge and talents to society.

This time, the lifelong learning programs offered through talent donation include ‘Life Tea Ceremony Class’ and ‘Happy Origami Class,’ with four residents volunteering as instructors.

Both courses are free of charge, and 25 participants per course will be recruited on a first-come, first-served basis. Residents wishing to participate can apply from the 25th via the Dongdaemun-gu Lifelong Learning website.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, this lifelong learning program will be conducted online in real-time, allowing participation via smartphones or PCs. Since the lectures are live, two-way communication with instructors is possible, enabling confirmation of learners’ practice progress and immediate correction, overcoming the limitations of online lectures.

The district is also recruiting volunteer instructors for the ‘Dongdaemun Talent Sharing School.’ Any Dongdaemun resident can apply, with donation fields including humanities and culture and arts. For detailed application methods, contact the Dongdaemun Lifelong Learning Center.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol said, “The Dongdaemun Talent Sharing School is operated through voluntary participation of residents, and this year, four resident instructors plan to provide interesting educational programs,” adding, “We ask for much interest in the Dongdaemun Talent Sharing School and will do our best to revitalize lifelong learning in Dongdaemun-gu through community communication.”

Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Mayor Noh Hyun-song, photo) has stepped up to help its sister city Gangneung, which was devastated by wildfires.

The district announced that it donated 11 million won collected from all employees to the Gangwon Province Community Chest of Korea to assist Gangneung City, which suffered great damage from wildfires in the Gangwon and Gyeongbuk regions.

The wildfires that lasted for 10 days from the 4th to the 13th burned about 20,000 hectares of forest and simultaneously took away the homes and farmlands of nearby residents, marking the largest damage and longest wildfire in history.

Especially, news that the sister city Gangneung also suffered significant damage from the wildfire touched the hearts of Gangseo-gu officials, who decided to help the disaster victims and support recovery efforts.

To share the sorrow and comfort the victims who lost everything in an instant due to the wildfire, the district decided to conduct a fundraising campaign among all employees.

Accordingly, the district collected donations over four days from the 18th to the 21st, with about 1,100 employees, including Mayor Noh Hyun-song, voluntarily participating, raising 11 million won.

The district delivered the collected 11 million won to the Gangwon Province Community Chest of Korea on the 23rd. The donation will be designated for use in wildfire damage recovery and emergency support for victims in the sister city Gangneung.

Mayor Noh Hyun-song said, “We have raised this heartfelt donation from employees to support the victims who are going through many difficulties due to the wildfire,” adding, “I hope the recovery will be completed quickly so that local residents can return to their daily lives as soon as possible.”

Gangseo-gu and Gangneung City have maintained active exchanges in culture, sports, and direct trade of agricultural specialties since signing a sister city agreement in 2004.

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, attended the regular general meeting of the Anyangcheon Beautification and Advancement Administrative Council held online at 4 p.m. on the 24th in the open participation room on the 5th floor of the district office.

At the online video conference general meeting, Mayor Kim said, “According to the basic plan for Anyangcheon beautification completed last December, we will create ‘Anyangcheon Garden Forest Trail’ as green infrastructure, leisure, and community space to make Anyangcheon a landmark representing the southwest area.”

Meanwhile, eight local governments sharing Anyangcheon held a founding general meeting last year to form a local government administrative council for joint cooperation on the ‘Anyangcheon Beautification and Advancement’ project and to lay the foundation for designation as a national garden.

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