Busan Office of Education Announces 'We Are All Student Guardians 365' Plan

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education is strengthening customized support to prevent student suicides due to increased student depression, anxiety, and family conflicts caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The Busan Office of Education announced on the 7th the 2023 Student Suicide Prevention and Life Respect Education Promotion Plan, "We Are All Student Guardians 365," aimed at enhancing schools' crisis response capabilities.

This plan was established focusing on fostering respect for life through systematic and diverse forms of education, preventing student suicides, and improving crisis management abilities both inside and outside schools.

Busan Office of Education.

Analysis of student suicide cases by the education office last year revealed that increased psychological depression and family conflicts were the causes.

Accordingly, individual schools will hold crisis management committees monthly for students experiencing crises due to various reasons such as depression, self-harm or suicide attempts, and victims of school violence or domestic violence, to strengthen early detection and intensive counseling with customized support for each student.

At the education office level, the 'Busan Student Character Education Center' will operate a 'Focused Counseling Camp' once per semester in May and November for high-risk students in schools, providing programs for counseling, healing, and self-esteem enhancement.

Additionally, the 'Student Health Promotion Center,' scheduled to be established in the second half of this year, will run mental health care experience programs and build an early detection system for suicide signs to implement more systematic and scientific student suicide prevention policies.

Along with this, a one-stop support system called 'Friend, I Will Help You,' which assists friends in crisis discovered through peer counseling club activities, will also be established and operated.

From this year, the operation method of school crisis management committees will also be improved. The chairperson will be elevated to the school principal, and meetings, which were previously held only when incidents occurred, will now be mandatory once a month. Furthermore, the crisis response system within schools has been strengthened by requiring the attendance of parents and external experts.

Kim Beom-gyu, Director of the Physical Education and Health Division at the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "This plan will serve as a solid stepping stone for fostering a healthy and positive awareness of life through systematic life respect education for student suicide prevention and establishing crisis response systems inside and outside schools. We will do our best to prevent student suicides by strengthening student counseling functions and enhancing schools' crisis response capabilities through training."

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