Korea: Participation in the after-school program exceeds expectations, yet hurdles persist
Schools still face staffing challenges
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| Elementary school students attend an after-school volleyball class at Maseong Elementary School in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, March 25. (Source:Yonhap) |
After one month of operation, after-school care program aimed at providing child care services and education are showing promising signs of success with an increase in the number of participating schools and students. However, challenges such as a lack of instructors remain as expected.
The Ministry of Education said Wednesday that after a month of implementation, 37 percent more schools than the government's estimate are participating in the before and after-school program called Neulbom School.
The program is part of the government's initiative to address the low birthrate by easing the child care burden for working parents, offering various educational and child care services from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to elementary school students while their parents are at work.
Currently, the program is only available to first-graders. The government plans to expand it to include higher grades starting from the second semester of this year.
Initially, the government planned to introduce the program to 2,000 schools nationwide in March, about one-third of elementary schools nationwide.
However, as of now, 2,838 schools have implemented Neulbom School. With more elementary schools in Seoul and Gwangju planning to start the program in April, it is expected that about 48 percent of all elementary schools nationwide will run the program in the first semester.
The number of students attending Neulbom classes has also increased by 1.4 million compared to March 4, the starting day of the program. Approximately 74.3 percent, which is 136,000 students of the 2,838 elementary schools, are participating in the after-school care initiative.
Parents taking advantage of the services are also responding positively, expressing that it is beneficial for children to take part in various activities in school, which are considered safer than private education institutions.
However, the lack of space and teachers remains a significant challenge that needs to be addressed by the government's active intervention.
In the case of elementary schools, homeroom teachers have to prepare for classes in the classroom after regular classes, but due to a lack of space, there are instances where teachers must vacate the classrooms for use in after-school activities.
The shortage of teachers for the extracurricular program is also consistently highlighted as a problem.
Groups of teachers have pointed out that some teachers are burdened with administrative tasks due to difficulties in hiring administrative personnel. Also, fixed-term teachers have to manage both Neulbom classes and administrative tasks simultaneously.
They have also voiced complaints that vice principals are tasked with managing the program in their respective schools, leading to an overload of responsibilities.
According to the education ministry's announcement about the program on March 12, one out of every six instructors in the program is a full-time teacher.
During a briefing on Wednesday, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho announced a plan to assign working-level staff to all elementary schools and hire dedicated personnel to take charge of after-school education and care services starting from the second semester.
Furthermore, local education offices and governments will strengthen cooperation to devise policies that address the lack of space, the ministry said.
(Source: Korea Times)
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