Seoul City Supports Special School Students' Visits to Museums and Art Galleries... 25 Schools to Visit by Year-End

As Part of the Accompaniment Project for the Underprivileged, Support Provided for Museum and Art Gallery Admission Fees, Transportation, and Assistants for Special School Students

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching a free museum and art gallery admission support program for special school students who usually find it difficult to visit museums and art galleries, with the first outing scheduled for the 27th.

According to Seoul City on the 26th, the free museum and art gallery admission support program for special school students was established as part of the ‘Walking Together with the Vulnerable’ policy, a key initiative of the 8th Seoul Metropolitan Government administration. The program provides support for admission fees to museums and art galleries, transportation, assistants, sign language interpreters, and guides for special school students. The aim is to increase opportunities for cultural enjoyment for special school students who have had limited chances to visit museums and art galleries due to environmental constraints.

Previously, Seoul City invited applications from national, public, and private museums and art galleries capable of operating exhibition viewing and experience programs for people with disabilities. A total of 30 museums and art galleries applied to participate, and each special school was allowed to select their preferred locations from among them. Each school chose museums and art galleries to visit based on the students’ types of disabilities and academic schedules.

As a result of matching special schools with museums and art galleries, by the end of this year, approximately 2,000 students and staff from 25 special schools, including Seoul Gwangjin School and Seoul Dongcheon School, which have all elementary, middle, high school, and vocational students enrolled, will visit museums and art galleries. Among special school students, museums and art galleries that offer a combination of exhibitions and experiential programs that stimulate the students’ ‘five senses’ were highly preferred. The most popular museums and art galleries were the Tteok Museum (Jongno-gu), Museum Kimchikan (Jongno-gu), and V Center The Live Museum (Gangdong-gu).

Additionally, for students who find it difficult to go out, museums and art galleries operate a ‘Visiting Museum and Art Gallery’ program that brings the experience directly to the schools. Due to academic schedules and safety reasons, eight schools, including Seoul Gyeongun School, with a total of 867 students, applied for the visiting museum and art gallery program.

The students embarking on the first outing through this program are vocational education students from Gyounam School’s vocational department. On the 27th, a total of 13 people (9 students and 4 staff) will visit the Seodaemun Natural History Museum. Joo Yong-tae, Head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Culture Headquarters, said, “Through this support program, we hope that special school students who usually find it difficult to visit museums and art galleries will have an opportunity to enjoy new pleasures,” adding, “We will continue to implement various ‘Walking Together with the Vulnerable’ cultural policies to ensure that citizens in cultural blind spots can enjoy culture and arts more easily and conveniently.”

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