In response to the tragic death of eight-year-old Kim Ha-neul by a teacher stabbing Kim after an after-school program, speculations have rose in South Korea regarding the programs’ safety measures for students.
The after-school care program, dubbed “Neulbom School” in Korean, is an after-school management system including educational programs and activities for student growth and development. The system was introduced by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in January 2023 as a part of measures to combat low birthrates and also to lessen the burden on working parents.
Announced two years ago, the Neulbom School was launched in the second semester of the 2024 academic year nationwide for first-year students in elementary schools. The program then expanded to second-year elementary school students from the beginning of 2025.
However, with Monday’s tragic incident exposing gaps in Neulbom School’s safety measures for students, criticism has mounted among observers that such problems must be addressed and resolved for the after-school care programs to effectively take place.
On Monday, Kim was stabbed by a teacher in a storage room located next to her after-school classroom as Kim was leaving the school to attend private art lessons.
Questions have arisen as to why the child was walking out of the school alone without teacher supervision.
According to guidelines written by the Ministry of Education on the operation of after-school programs, students should be under the supervision of a parent or a guardian when leaving the programs.
However, due to problems such as personnel shortages, most schools like Kim’s only provide teacher supervision until students are handed over to their parents or guardians after 5 p.m. Earlier in the day, students are sent out of the school individually if their parents have signed a consent form prior to the students being enrolled in the after-school programs. According to local media reports, Kim left her classroom around 4:30.
“Although the after-school program guidelines state that students should be accompanied out of the school by a guardian or a designated representative, in reality, each parent has a different way of picking up their children,” an Education Ministry official was quoted in local media reports. “If there are 100 students enrolled in an after-school program, we can say that there will be 100 different ways for the students to go home. It’s difficult to uniformly enforce the guidelines all together.”
Since Monday’s incident, criticism has mounted, pointing out that student safety must be given the utmost priority if the Neulbom School program is to be expanded further, especially since the after-school program is expected to be rolled out to all grades starting in 2026.
Some are calling for comprehensive safety measures, such as making the “safety alert service” available for all schools nationwide. Currently, some schools have installed devices on their front doors that send a text message to parents when their child enters or leaves the school. Though this incurs additional costs for the school itself, regional education offices provide some monetary support for schools in need.
Meanwhile, acting President Choi Sang-mok visited the site of Kim’s funeral on Wednesday afternoon. In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Choi also urged the Education Ministry as well as other related organizations to “thoroughly investigate the incident” and to take necessary measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again, to “ensure students are able to learn in a safe environment.”
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
