Ministry of Education to Improve Safety of School Commute Routes Outside School... Special Grants Allocated

12 Provincial and City Offices of Education Request 8.9 Billion KRW Budget
Ministry of Education to Review and Support Within This Month

The Ministry of Education will provide local education finance grants to improve the safety of school commuting routes outside of school. Metropolitan and provincial offices of education and local governments will be able to use the grants received this month to install safety facilities such as new sidewalks outside schools or separation of pedestrian and vehicle lanes.

On the 8th, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, held the 2nd Social Relations Ministers' Meeting at the Government Seoul Office to discuss the "Plan to Improve Safety of School Commuting Routes Outside School Using Special Grants," the "Plan to Promote the Student Character Development Leadership Sprout Camp," and the "2nd Basic Plan for Braille Development (2024?2028)."

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, is speaking at the 2nd Social Relations Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office on the 8th. Photo by Ministry of Education

First, to improve the safety of children's commuting routes, the Ministry of Education decided to strengthen the roles of both the Ministry and the offices of education and provide local education finance grants for safety facilities on commuting routes outside schools. Previously, in December last year, the "Standards for Granting and Operating Special Grants" were revised to establish grounds for supporting special grants for safety facilities on commuting routes outside schools as a local issue. Accordingly, special grants can now be allocated for installing new sidewalks outside schools, separating pedestrian and vehicle lanes, and installing facilities to prevent jaywalking.

According to the revised standards, by the end of last month, requests for improvements in the traffic environment near commuting routes were received. As a result, 12 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, in consultation with local governments, applied for a total budget of 8.9 billion KRW to install safety facilities on the routes to and from school near 500 schools. The Ministry of Education plans to review the appropriateness and provide support within this month.

Additionally, based on Article 7 of the Braille Act, the Ministry of Education will establish the 2nd Basic Plan for Braille Development, which sets the basic direction of government-led braille policies for the next five years. The goal of this plan is to "strengthen the foundation for future braille development through the expansion of braille education and promotion of braille informatization." It includes four major strategies: strengthening the policy foundation for continuous braille development, providing customized braille education and improving braille usage skills, creating a discrimination-free environment for braille use, and promoting braille informatization in response to the 4th Industrial Revolution era.

The Ministry of Education will also promote the Student Character Development Leadership Sprout Camp. It is scheduled to be held from May for 400 to 500 students in grades 5 and 6 of elementary school and middle school students. The camp will be organized and operated around four detailed themes: economic leadership, patriotism, global leadership, and sports leadership. Government ministries and related agencies will collaborate to provide programs for each theme. Mentors such as university and graduate students will be assigned to support the participants. Based on the results of the camp operation, the program will be expanded into various forms of leadership sprout programs linked with Neulbom School and creative experiential activity hours in the future.

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