Education ministry secures budget to help high school students

High school students seek recruitment information at a job fair at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province in this 2013 file photo. Korea Times file

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has secured a supplementary budget to help high school graduates find jobs soon after graduation.

The National Assembly passed the additional 162.3 billion won ($150 million) budget for this year, Monday

The ministry's total budget was 68.3 trillion won this year, up 162 billion won from the previous year.

Nearly half of the supplementary budget _ 73.5 billion won _ will be used to help high school students get employed and support small- and medium-sized (SME) enterprises.

Under the plan, about 3 million won will be given to each high school senior who is employed at an SME.

In order to benefit from the plan, students need to receive at least one year of vocational training in a related field.

Currently, 24,000 students are eligible to receive the subsidy.

“The subsidy will help high school students get on their feet soon after being employed. It will also help the manpower shortage at SMEs,” said an education ministry official.

A budget to help college students' employment has also been increased by 7 billion won from last year, reaching a total of 35.6 billion won for the second half of the year.

The subsidy aims to assist college juniors and seniors get employed at the nation's SMEs. It will be provided in the form of scholarships.

The increase in the budget will allow 4,500 college students to receive scholarships this year, an increase of 900 students from last year. .

Twenty-nine billion won has been set aside for working high school grads to receive a college diploma.

Under the plan, a high school graduate who has worked at a SME for over three years will be eligible to receive a full scholarship if they pursue a college education.

In addition, the ministry has secured 112 billion won to help students from low-income families to get a college education.

The budget will benefit 3,000 low-income students.

The education ministry has also secured 21 billion won to expand elementary daycare programs.

The elementary daycare programs provide afterschool supervision for elementary students until 6 pm for parents who both have jobs.

“We will be able to establish 700 more elementary daycare programs allowing 14,000 elementary students to benefit from the program,” said an education ministry official.

“The move aims to help dual-income families.”