The Education Ministry announced Wednesday that care programs for elementary schools driven by the state will begin in the second semester of the 2024 academic year, benefiting more than 6,300 schools nationwide.

Dubbed "Neulbom school" which directly translates to "always caring" in Korean, the policy is a comprehensive after-school management system that integrates various educational resources from the school, the community and universities in the area in addition to regular classes to provide for the growth and development of students.

This is one of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's measures to combat the low birthrate; the before- and after-school child care programs operate from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from after school until 8 p.m., aiming to lighten the burdens of working parents.

Education Vice Minister Oh Seok-hwan said at Wednesday's briefing that every school has secured the necessary programs and space to accommodate all second semester applicants, completely eliminating the waitlist for the first graders.

Some 280,000 of the 34.8 million elementary school students nationwide, 80 percent of the total, expressed a desire to participate in the program -- a more than double increase of the 12.8 million students who wished to participate in the program early in March.

Initially introduced to 2,963 schools nationwide in the first semester, the program will kick off in all 6,185 elementary schools and 178 special schools that operate elementary courses in the second semester, which starts in the third week of August.

To ensure a smooth transition, over 9,000 dedicated staff for Neulbom, 1.4 personnel per school on average, are deployed to each school to prepare for the second semester. This move hopes to ease the administrative burden on teachers so they can focus on regular school courses, Oh explained.

Various types of support staff have also been deployed to each school. For instance, Daegu will utilize work-study students who receive scholarships from the Korea Student Aid Foundation to support student safety management, while other cities such as Busan and Daejeon will hire retired government employees as volunteers.

To make classrooms safe and child-friendly environments for students, and build a teacher study room for teachers to use during the program, 6,485 classrooms have been improved and 4,453 teacher rooms have been built, according to the ministry.

Local communities, including universities and institutions, will also participate in providing for the Neulbom program. As of August 9, 39,118 customized programs for first graders and 35,433 instructors were prepared. Special programs are also operated in cooperation with local communities.

For instance in Gangwon Province, specialized programs will be operated in cooperation with local surfing industries.

The inter-ministerial support will continue in the second semester. 27 ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Rural Affairs Administration, provided a total of 562 after-school programs for the second semester while eight ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, provided a total of 6,414 spaces for educational activities that can be used throughout the year.

Personalized support for students with disabilities will also be in place. Various programs such as arts and physical activities, sensory play, cooking and VR-based experiential education will be provided for students with disabilities to participate in a fun and enjoyable way. In addition, in consideration of the type of disability and developmental characteristics, support staff will be provided as needed.