2024-07-16 10:08:09
The Office of the President announced on the 16th that it expects to successfully achieve its goal of expanding the “Nulbom School,” which provides childcare from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., to all elementary schools nationwide starting in the second semester.
Jang Sang-yoon, senior secretary for social affairs at the Blue House, said this in the afternoon at the Blue House briefing room in Yongsan, Seoul, “As a result of establishing a government-wide promotion system and working closely with the 17 city and provincial offices of education, Neulbom School, which took its first steps in the first semester, is gradually settling in as it receives a favorable response from the field.”
Neulbom School is a program that integrates and improves existing after-school programs and care classrooms at elementary schools, and provides various programs outside of regular classes through cooperation with school-centered community organizations. It will be implemented in all elementary schools nationwide starting from the second semester of this year, and will expand to first graders this year, second graders next year, and all grades in 2026.
Chief Jang emphasized, “One of the core tasks of the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s education reform is to establish a public care system, or a national responsibility care system, where the government will now take responsibility for child care and education, which were previously entirely the responsibility of parents.”
President Yoon has inspected and encouraged the progress of the project several times through livelihood discussion meetings, central-local cooperation meetings, and inter-ministerial support headquarters meetings for the Neulbom School.
Chief Jang explained, “Since 2,741 elementary schools began operating Neulbom Schools at the beginning of the semester last March, the number of schools operating has increased by about 200 to 2,963 as of the end of June, and nearly half of all elementary schools are operating them.” He added, “In the case of elementary schools under the jurisdiction of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the number of participating Neulbom schools has increased from only 38 at the beginning of the semester to 150.”
Chief Jang said, “We have confirmed that the satisfaction level of students and parents with Neulbom School is very high.”
According to the results of a survey conducted by the Korea Educational Development Institute, a national research institute, targeting students and parents who participated in Neulbom School for two weeks from the end of May, 82.1% of parents and 87.6% of students responded that they were satisfied with Neulbom School.
Chief Jang said, “In particular, when asked whether the Nuelbom School policy helped parents alleviate the burden of raising and caring for their children at home, 86.5% of parents responded that it was helpful, confirming that the effects of the Nuelbom School policy are gradually being felt in the field.”
Chief Jang said that Neulbom School has had a positive effect on job creation and inter-institutional collaboration, and that approximately 20,000 jobs were created in the first semester of this year alone, including 2,275 temporary teachers, 3,500 Neulbom field workers, and 14,000 Neulbom instructors.
Regarding the preparations for the nationwide expansion of ‘Neulbom School’, Chief Jang said, “At least one Neulbom practical staff member per school is scheduled to be assigned by July,” and “We will also conduct a demand survey for parents for the second semester and prepare a program operation plan based on demand.”
Currently, 14 offices of education, including Gyeonggi, Busan, Daegu, and Seoul, have already finalized and are preparing their second semester operation plans, and the Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungbuk offices of education are also expected to announce their operation plans soon.
Chief Jang said, “As we have confirmed the great response from the field through the operation of Neulbom School in the first half of the year, we will move forward step by step to expand and establish Neulbom School nationwide,” and emphasized, “We will do our best to properly establish Neulbom School through necessary policy support and financial investment.”
Meanwhile, a senior official at the Blue House said in response to the claim that the implementation of Neulbom School has increased the workload of educational civil servants, “Since it will be expanded to all schools nationwide in the second semester, the Ministry of Education will prepare in the meantime to form a Neulbom Support Office and assign at least one Neulbom Support Office director and working-level personnel (to each school) to gradually prepare.”
He continued, “We plan to utilize instructors participating in the (Nulbom School) program, caregivers for parents in need of care, teachers on standby at the Nulbom Support Center, and temporary teachers in the field,” adding, “We should of course be concerned about their treatment, and I think that in order to have a high-quality program, we should of course consider their working environment.”
Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo News 1
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2024-07-16 10:08:09