Youth from low-income families will be able to enjoy a wider range of sports in the future. 

Starting January 17, children and students in low-income families will be able to apply for this year’s vouchers that can be used to pay for sports lessons, announced the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 

The coupons will cover KRW 70,000 every month and allow users to enroll in programs such as taekwondo, kendo or hapkido, as well as other sports, at gyms and sport facilities across the country that have joined the program. The voucher program is being jointly supported by the ministry and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation. 

Children and students aged five to nineteen from families that are beneficiaries of the government’s basic livelihood security support or who are from families classified as being “near poor” can apply for the voucher program at the program’s homepage (www.svoucher.or.kr). Children from these family groups are eligible for the vouchers on condition that the number of applications made is not too high. 

Once selected by local government entities as voucher beneficiaries, the families will receive a special cash card. The kids can enroll in any extra-curricular sports program of their choice, choosing from a range of 6,000 registered sport facilities across the country. Each card can receive up to KRW 70,000 in support every month. Their children can also enroll in short-term “sport experience” programs provided by local government organizations. 

Since 2009, the sports voucher program has been jointly run by the culture ministry and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation in order to expand opportunities for children from low-income families to enjoy sports. In 2013, the program’s budget of KRW 15 billion gave new athletic opportunities to about 30,000 people. In 2014, the two organizations plan to provide sporting opportunities to 36,000 youths with a budget of KRW 15.1 billion. 

“The government will make active and continuous efforts to extend the benefits of the voucher program by signing up more sports lesson facilities and by diversifying the range of extra-curricular athletic programs so that any citizen will be able to train and enjoy sports,” said the ministry.