Prevent school trip accidents... 3 safety officers per team at Daegu school

The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 4th that it will introduce field experience learning safety officers starting from the 2027 school year.

This measure was prepared as a supplementary measure as school field experience learning and field trips are decreasing nationwide following the Gangwon-do field trip accident in 2022, in which an elementary school student on a field trip died after being hit by a tour bus moving backwards.

The safety officer is an external professional assigned to a school that provides lodging-type field experience learning. A team of three people is made up of one retired teacher, one with fire and police experience, and one travel and youth instructor.

They support consulting and preliminary field trips in the experiential learning planning stage, and are responsible for safety education for students, faculty, and external support personnel, safety inspection of operating vehicles and confirmation of driver's drunkenness, and initial response and investigation support in the event of an accident.

To ensure the stable introduction of the system, the city's Office of Education will first send three safety officers to the Gyeongbuk Mechanical Technical High School's overnight field experience learning program, which will be held for 2 nights and 3 days in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province with the participation of 207 students and 17 teachers, to check system deficiencies and supplements.

Separately, the city's Office of Education plans to start a new project starting next year to select and support small-scale themed field experience learning programs designed by students through a contest.

Superintendent Kang Eun-hee said, "Accommodation-type experiential learning is an important opportunity to gain diverse experiences with friends and cultivate a sense of community through it. We will strengthen administrative support so that both teachers and students can participate in experiential learning with peace of mind."