Gwangju Office of Education Promotes Support Project for Infant Psychological and Emotional Development

Pilot Operation This Year... Plan to Expand Target Next Year

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 13th that it will promote a project to support the psychological and emotional development of young children for their healthy physical and mental growth.

The "Support for Psychological and Emotional Development of Young Children" project will be operated as a pilot project this year, with plans to expand the target group further from next year. This year, about 700 five-year-old children from 26 public and private kindergartens in the district will participate.

In particular, through psychological and emotional development assessments, early detection of issues will be made, and professional counseling will be provided to support healthy growth of both body and mind.

The Office of Education will select support recipients based on the results of the psychological and emotional development assessments and then conduct counseling. Subsequently, it plans to provide psychological and emotional support programs such as counseling for children and parents in connection with specialized institutions. The cost of the psychological and emotional development assessments will be fully covered by the Office of Education, and the professional counseling fees will be supported by the affiliated institution, the Early Childhood Education Promotion Institute.

On this day, a briefing session for teachers and parents was held. The session provided detailed guidance on support measures for young children, including ▲ understanding the purpose of psychological and emotional development assessments for young children ▲ learning about child development assessment methods ▲ and instructions on procedures for linking to professional counseling support.

Imi-hyang Lee, a teacher at Hwaun Kindergarten, said, “Our children experienced a lot of stress due to continuous indoor life during COVID-19, which caused various developmental delays and difficulties in life education. I thought support was necessary for this, and I am very pleased that the Office of Education is promoting a good project.”

Superintendent Jeong-seon Lee stated, "We will continue to spare no effort to provide the necessary support so that young children can grow up healthy both physically and mentally," and added, "Based on this year’s pilot project, we will further expand the ‘Support for Psychological and Emotional Development of Young Children’ project.”

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