Cheon Chang-su, Ulsan Superintendent of Education, "Actively Supporting Children's Mental Health"

Ulsan Office of Education Holds 'Superintendent Meeting with Citizens'

Professional Counselors and Teachers Provide Customized Counseling Support and Communication

Cheon Chang-su, Superintendent of Education in Ulsan, emphasized meeting with school professional counselors and teachers in the Ulsan area, stating, “We will actively support the mental health of children.”

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education recently held the 17th “Meeting the Superintendent with Citizens” event at the Park Sang-jin Hall of the Ulsan Education Research and Information Center, with 23 professional school counselors and specialists from the Ulsan area in attendance, the office announced on the 24th.

At the event, the counselors and others attending presented various opinions regarding additional support for student mental health treatment costs, the need for support staff to assist counseling, and response measures in case of emergencies.

Superintendent Cheon Chang-su said, “Just as it takes a whole village to raise a child, all members of the school community must take an interest and work together for the mental health of our children. Only then can we reduce problems such as school violence and academic dropout and create a peaceful and warm school environment.”

A teacher who participated in the event requested, “In schools with a large number of students, the workload of professional counselors is excessively heavy, making student counseling difficult. Please consider support plans for counseling assistant personnel.”

In response, Superintendent Cheon said, “Currently, due to adjustments in Ministry of Education staffing and financial conditions, it is difficult to hire assistant personnel. However, considering the importance of supporting students’ mental health, we will explore various measures.”

When asked about support plans for the second half of the year after all student mental health treatment funds were exhausted, Superintendent Cheon said, “We plan to allocate 45 million won from the budget secured through selection for the Ministry of Education’s Wee Project pilot program to mental health treatment costs, and we will also adjust our own budget to find additional support measures.”

Regarding the opinion that emergency bells should be installed in counseling rooms to prepare for emergencies that may occur during student counseling, he responded, “I empathize with the difficulties of the counseling process and will review securing a budget to install them in the future.”

Superintendent Cheon added, “I express my gratitude to the professional counselors and specialists who strive for the healthy mental recovery of students,” and promised, “We will support capacity-building training for professional counselors so that teachers and children can grow safely and healthily.”

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education is actively supporting students’ mental health by strengthening the capabilities of counseling experts as the situations of students in emotional and behavioral crisis, school violence, academic dropout, depression, and self-harm become more serious, increasing the importance of psychological counseling.

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education operates the “Meeting the Superintendent with Citizens” program every month, where the superintendent meets directly with citizens to explain Ulsan’s education policies and communicate on various educational issues.

Those wishing to participate in the “Meeting the Superintendent with Citizens” event can fill out the application form available on the Ulsan Office of Education website under “Meeting the Superintendent with Citizens” and submit it via email.

Ulsan Office of Education is holding the 'Superintendent Meeting with Citizens' and taking a commemorative photo.

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