Suwon City and Suwon Office of Education Join Hands to Build Better Educational Environment

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon City and the Suwon Office of Education joined hands to ensure stable operation of the school social welfare project and the 2022 Suwon Innovative Education District.

The two agencies signed a business agreement on the 19th at the Suwon City Hall situation room and promised active cooperation.

The city will provide budget support for stable operation of the school social welfare project, and the Suwon Office of Education will support the project to operate stably.

Suwon City and the Suwon Office of Education also agreed to cooperate on ▲institutionalization efforts for stable operation of the school social welfare project ▲early detection of abused and neglected students, building and operating systems ▲checking absentee students in cooperation with local government ▲promoting integrated support among relevant agencies to enhance efficiency in managing educational welfare beneficiaries ▲discovering and supporting programs for establishment of Suwon-style educational welfare suited to Suwon's conditions.

The Suwon City school social welfare project, which began in 2011, is an educational welfare project that deploys social workers at schools to provide social welfare services to students including counseling, mentoring, group activities, and preventive education.

School social workers engage in activities such as teacher and parent counseling, home visits, and linking and supporting regional welfare services. The school social welfare project began at 4 schools in 2011, and has been conducted at 56 elementary, middle, high, and special schools since 2015.

The two agencies also signed a 2022 supplementary agreement pursuant to the 'Innovative Education District Season III Project' business agreement concluded by Mayor Yeum Tae-young and Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education Lee Jae-jeong in February of last year.

For 2022 detailed projects of the Suwon Innovative Education District, the two agencies set 20 projects including ▲Suwon Innovative Education Forum ▲Suwon Special City community education programs ▲school educational community with the village ▲school specialization programs ▲character development programs, and decided to actively cooperate in promoting them.

The 'Innovative Education District' is a region where the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education and local governments jointly discover educational resources and conduct community-specific education linked with schools in order to create a 'local education community' where schools and local communities actively communicate and cooperate.

Suwon City and the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education will promote the Innovative Education District project until February 2026 in accordance with the agreement.

Suwon Mayor Yeum Tae-young and Suwon Office of Education Superintendent Hwang Yun-gyu, among others, attended the agreement signing ceremony.

Mayor Yeum Tae-young said, "Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant portion of school classes have been conducted non-face-to-face, and the 'education gap' is widening, and polarization and individualism are intensifying in various sectors of society," and expressed expectations that "the school social welfare project and the innovative education district project will be a great force in minimizing the education gap and fostering a warm educational community."

He further stated, "We should pool our efforts to strengthen and institutionalize school welfare support at the national level so that these precious projects can be stably established in the local educational field," and urged, "I hope you will make efforts so that our children can form healthy selves and grow up properly."