Parents to Monitor Construction Sites Near Schools... "Thorough Inspections from a Parent's Perspective"

Ministry of Education Holds Launch Ceremony for Parent Field Monitoring Team on April 27

51 Parents Appointed to Inspect 44 Sites Nationwide

Strengthening On-Site Hazard Inspections and Post-Management

Parents will directly inspect and manage student safety at 44 construction sites nationwide located near schools.

On April 27, the Ministry of Education announced that it will form and launch the "2026 Educational Environment Assessment Approved Site Parent Field Monitoring Team" in collaboration with metropolitan and provincial offices of education and the Korea Institute of Educational Environment Protection.

The educational environment assessment is a system that requires prior evaluation of the impact on the educational environment for large-scale construction activities within 200 meters of a school boundary and mandates approval from the superintendent of education. The monitoring team has been in operation since 2024 to prevent potential hazards from construction near schools through post-management of the approved items from the educational environment assessment.

This year, 51 parent monitoring team members have been appointed to cover 44 sites nationwide. Parents will directly visit the sites near schools to check whether the action plans based on the educational environment assessment are being properly implemented.

Ministry of Education

The monitoring team will conduct real-time on-site inspections a total of 10 times to verify whether the site operator’s proposed prevention and mitigation measures in various areas have been properly carried out since the educational environment assessment approval. The results will be reported to the respective local offices of education. Inspection items include: ▲Construction plans (such as construction site entrances, deployment of safety personnel, and whether construction vehicles are operated during commuting hours), ▲Commuting safety (such as installation of roofed pedestrian walkways, the type and storage of materials on pedestrian and vehicle routes), ▲On-site monitoring equipment (such as whether fine dust and noise monitoring devices are installed and functioning, and installation of noise sensors), and ▲Building plans (such as whether information on the site’s construction notice board matches the building plan).

Based on these findings, local offices of education plan to actively respond to create a safer educational environment, including conducting additional on-site inspections at sites where the implementation rate of prevention and mitigation measures is low.

In particular, this year, a next-generation educational environment information system has been established to improve the convenience of inspection and make it easier for the monitoring team to participate. Previously, the monitoring results recorded on paper forms had to be later entered into a computer (PC), but now, inspection locations, photos, and other results can be uploaded directly from the site using the mobile system.

Shim Mincheol, Director of the Student Health and Safety Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Education, stated, "We will do our utmost to protect the health and learning rights of students by thoroughly inspecting nearby project sites from the perspective of parents, working closely with local offices of education to ensure that inspection results lead to meaningful improvements, and responding proactively."

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