"Restroom Reluctance at Schools..." Seoul Allocates 1.2 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget for Facility Renovations, Free Education for 3-Year-Olds

Renovating Restrooms in 230 Schools with a Budget of 214.2 Billion Won
111 Billion Won in Initial Funding for Free Education for 35,000 Three-Year-Olds
173 Billion Won Allocated for Digital Interactive Whiteboards in Grade 6 and Grade 12 Classrooms

"There are children who even hesitate to go to the restroom at school. This supplementary budget has been organized with the primary goal of resolving students’ everyday inconveniences, reinforcing basic education, and preparing for AI-driven future learning," he said.

On August 10, Jung Geun-sik, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, spoke about the year’s second supplementary budget plan, stating, "Once the budget is finalized, we will execute it promptly so that students and faculty can feel the changes immediately."

On the same day, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education submitted a supplementary budget of 1.1711 trillion won to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, allocating funds across three fields: Inclusive and Responsible Welfare, Safe and Pleasant Learning Environments, and Experience & Reading.

Of this amount, 625.4 billion won has been set aside for improvements in outdated restrooms and meal facilities, representing the largest allocation for enhancing comfortable school environments. The education office expects that the supplementary budget will help resolve much of the backlog in facility repairs that accumulated due to insufficient education funding, stating, "Many aging school facilities have not been repaired in a timely manner, but with this supplementary budget, a significant portion of the repairs scheduled for this year will be addressed."

In particular, school restrooms have been repeatedly criticized as neglected spaces that students avoid due to outdated facilities, dim lighting, and lack of ventilation. The education office has allocated 214.2 billion won to fully renovate 230 schools’ aging restrooms to address student health concerns arising from restroom inconvenience.

A total of 329 billion won will be used for school environment improvements. This includes comprehensive renovations of summer and winter heating and cooling systems essential to learning conditions, improvements to windows, electrical systems, and other safety-related facilities, along with seismic reinforcement for earthquake-prone buildings and the removal of fire-prone Dryvit exterior materials.

Additional allocations include 56 billion won for modernization of old cafeterias and kitchen equipment, 4.5 billion won for installing CCTV in school entrances, hallways, and staircases as required by the revised Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and 20.8 billion won for minor repairs of safety facilities discovered by schools themselves.

The ‘inclusive welfare’ category includes a total allocation of 19.1 billion won. This consists of 11.1 billion won for free education and childcare support for three-year-olds attending public and private kindergartens and daycare centers, 1.7 billion won to improve working conditions for private kindergarten teachers, 3.8 billion won for special education support, 400 million won for supporting student mental health, and 2.1 billion won for multicultural and alternative education support.

The policy of supporting tuition and childcare costs is to provide assistance for education expenses incurred by implementing the national standard ‘Nuri Curriculum’ in kindergartens and daycare centers. With the government’s phased implementation of universal free education, 35,000 three-year-olds previously excluded from support will now become eligible for benefits.

To improve working conditions for private kindergarten teachers, 1.2 billion won will fund temporary substitute teacher support, and 500 million won will be allocated for parental leave subsidies, aiming to minimize care gaps during sick leave or vacations. Additionally, 3.8 billion won is allocated to establish customized career and vocational training for students with disabilities and to newly open special classes, while 1.4 billion won is set for alternative education support.

The ‘Experience & Reading’ category is budgeted at 33.6 billion won. This includes 2.2 billion won to support field trips, 13.7 billion won for independent school reading programs, and 17.3 billion won to distribute digital interactive whiteboards to 6th-grade elementary and 3rd-grade high school classrooms.

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