Plugging the gaps in disaster compensation for Seoul schools

[Financial News] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said on the 4th that it has drawn up and will implement its “2027 Educational Facilities Mutual Aid Operations Plan,” which expands the scope of compensation in the event of a school disaster while reducing administrative burdens. The plan is expected to eliminate coverage gaps that have left schools uncompensated despite suffering disasters and to save the education office at least 100 million won in annual budget spending.
According to SMOE, over the past five years, schools in Seoul applied for approximately 16.56 billion won in mutual-aid benefits for disaster damage, but the amount actually paid totaled just 10.24 billion won (61.8%). This was because the items schools actually owned did not match the information in their records, or costs such as facility improvements were excluded from coverage under existing compensation standards focused on restoring property to its original condition. A survey of staff responsible for the work also found that 68.9% felt burdened by mutual-aid administration.
The education office will overhaul its coverage system to address these issues. First, it will lower the threshold for high-value items that must be enrolled individually in the mutual-aid program from “a unit acquisition cost of at least 5 million won” to “at least 3 million won.” In particular, it will introduce new “blanket special coverage” for low-cost items worth less than 3 million won, so they can still receive compensation if damaged in a disaster even if they were not enrolled in advance.
With these changes, compensation limits will rise substantially in the event of a major disaster. According to research, if an incident destroys an entire school cafeteria, the compensation limit is expected to increase to about 2.2 times its previous level. At the same time, applying more reasonable enrollment criteria is expected to reduce annual mutual-aid contributions by at least 100 million won.
The previously complex enrollment and claims procedures will also be greatly simplified. A “Quick Guide (Manual)” containing forms for automatically checking whether items must be enrolled and self-inspection checklists will be provided to schools. In addition, a step-by-step support system will be established, with the education office providing direct assistance from the initial response to an incident through damage recovery and settlement.
Seoul Superintendent of Education Geun-sik Chung said, “As important as preventing disasters is quickly repairing damage and returning to everyday life after an incident,” adding, “The education office will be a steadfast support so that schools do not have to shoulder complex compensation procedures and the burden of recovery alone.”
[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter