Seoul Learn to Take Its Support Directly to Regional Children's Centers, Expand to 100 by 2030

[Financial News] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is expanding Seoul Learn's primarily online learning support to places where children live and spend time, including regional children's centers. Under the program, dedicated mentors visit the centers in person to help elementary school students with homework, review, and preview studies. The program will start at 10 centers and expand to 100 by 2030. The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 5th that it would begin piloting Seoul Learn Ssaem, an on-site group mentoring program, at 10 regional children's centers in eight districts, including Eunpyeong, Yeongdeungpo, and Gangseo, beginning this month. The pilot program will run through February next year.
Seoul Learn Ssaem mentors visit regional children's center study rooms twice a week for two hours each time. They focus on English, mathematics, and Korean, helping students with homework, review, preview studies, and workbook exercises. They also teach students how to use Seoul Learn's online lectures in their actual studies.
While Seoul Learn's existing one-on-one mentoring has primarily provided individualized support to middle and high school students, Seoul Learn Ssaem sends mentors to regional children's centers, which are mainly used by elementary school students, to teach multiple students. Rather than delivering a fixed set of lectures uniformly, the program allows students to choose what they want to study or ask about, after which mentors provide help tailored to each student's learning situation.
The program follows the expansion of Seoul Learn's eligibility criteria in July. The Seoul Metropolitan Government relaxed the income requirement from 60% or less of the median household income to 80% or less, and newly included children from households with multiple children and those who use regional children's centers. As a result, the number of young people eligible to use Seoul Learn increased by roughly 50,000 to 170,000.
The program also reflects an opinion raised at a meeting in July between Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and directors of regional children's centers: mentors were needed to help children study directly on-site, not only online. At the time, Oh said, "We will actively reflect opinions from the field and provide more comprehensive support for children's learning environments."
Existing senior mentors working with Seoul Learn will be assigned first. The initiative is intended to connect senior workers with education and social experience to the learning-support needs of regional children's centers, helping students while also expanding the areas in which senior mentors can work. Students who need more detailed guidance will be connected with Seoul Learn's existing one-on-one mentoring.
The pilot program will cover 10 centers: Galhyeon Regional Children's Center and Dongbang Regional Children's Center in Eunpyeong District; Dasarang Yeongdeungpo Regional Children's Center and Dunalggae Regional Children's Center in Yeongdeungpo District; and one center each in Seodaemun, Seocho, Geumcheon, Dobong, Mapo, and Gangseo districts.
Based on the pilot's results, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to increase the number of participating institutions from 25 in 2027 to 50 in 2028, 75 in 2029, and 100 in 2030. The city will expand the on-site learning-support model beyond regional children's centers to youth facilities and other places that students regularly use in their daily lives.
Lee Hae-sun, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Lifelong Education Bureau, said, "Just as important as providing online learning content is creating an environment where children can immediately ask about and receive help with the parts they struggle with during the actual learning process." Lee added, "We will actively support regional children's centers so that, through Seoul Learn Ssaem, they become everyday learning spaces where children can study comfortably and receive the help they need."

[email protected] Seong Cho-rong Reporter