Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Resumes Payment of Education Participation Allowance for Out-of-School Youth

Retroactive Payment of Education Participation Allowance for January to March

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 8th that it will resume providing education participation allowances for out-of-school youth starting this month.

The education participation allowance is a program that provides monthly support of 100,000 KRW for elementary students, 150,000 KRW for middle school students, and 200,000 KRW for high school students who meet attendance requirements among youth registered at ’Chingurang‘, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s out-of-school youth support center.

Youth can use the allowance for transportation costs, meal expenses, purchasing study materials, exam fees, and cultural and artistic experience fees for career exploration. After spending the allowance, they must submit a report and receive one-on-one consulting regarding the usage details. If the allowance is used for purposes other than intended or if the report is not submitted, the allowance may be reclaimed and payments may be suspended.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained that it secured a budget of approximately 790 million KRW for the education participation allowance for out-of-school youth through the first supplementary budget of 2023. The scale of payments has steadily increased every year since the pilot project in 2019, and the number of youth participating in learning programs at the out-of-school youth support center has been continuously rising.

Out-of-school youth who met the program attendance requirements during the suspension period from January to March can receive retroactive payments for the education participation allowance for that period. However, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to split the retroactive payments into two installments of 50% each to ensure the allowance is used for its intended purpose.

A representative from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, “We plan to operate education, career, and emotional support programs for out-of-school youth and promote support so that out-of-school youth can grow into healthy members of society through building cooperative systems.”

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