[비즈한국] The activity of 'Green Mothers,' who wear green vests and wave flags to direct traffic at school crosswalks, has become a headache for dual-income parents. As more schools make these activities mandatory, working mothers who find it difficult to spare time on weekdays are struggling to find part-timers to cover their shifts. While there is growing advocacy for replacing school traffic duty with jobs for seniors, experts suggest that a full-scale transition remains practically difficult.
"Paying 20,000 won": The struggle to hire a 'Green part-timer'
'Looking for a substitute for Green Mothers; I'm a working mom and can't find the time,' 'Is there anyone who can cover my Green Mothers duty from 8:30 to 9:00 AM? I will pay 20,000 won.' One of the common posts easily found in online local communities is the search for a 'Green part-timer.' Since working mothers in dual-income households find it difficult to take time out of their work week for Green Mothers activities, hiring a substitute for the volunteer work has become a frequent occurrence.
Green Mothers activities refer to providing traffic guidance near schools during students' arrival hours. Once a Green Mothers Association is formed autonomously at a school, they recruit parents who wish to participate, and these parents stand at crosswalks with flags to help students arrive at school safely. Recently, they are also called by various names, such as Green Parents Association or Green Volunteer Corps.
A decade ago, there were many parents who participated voluntarily with enthusiasm for Green Mothers activities, so there were no major issues with operation. However, the atmosphere has changed. An elementary school official, A, explained, "Before 2010, the Green Mothers Association was operated on a volunteer-only basis. But as the number of students decreased and the number of dual-income families increased, the number of people willing to participate in Green Mothers activities dropped significantly. Now, there are so few volunteers that we are forced to make everyone take turns doing traffic duty."
Since all parents participate in traffic duty on a rotating basis, dual-income families are raising complaints. One parent said, "In the past, we only selected volunteers for the service, but since last year, it has changed so that all parents must participate. We can't even choose our schedule, so working moms find it hard to coordinate. Most of us just hire a part-timer to take our place."
As parents struggle to find 'Green part-timers,' some local governments are even operating specialized matching platforms for substitutes. Last May, the Seoul Metropolitan Government launched the 'Traffic Safety Mom(心) 5249 (Let's Gather)' service. When a parent looking for a substitute calls the center, they connect them with a substitute, and these individuals provide traffic volunteer services for free.
However, since there are so many applicants, 100% matching cannot be guaranteed. A Seoul city official explained, "The number of volunteers currently available for matching is around 630. But because the number of applicants contacting the call center is much higher, it is difficult to support all applicants with substitutes," adding, "Between last May and February this year, there were 1,400 successful matches."
Replacing with jobs for seniors? Budget issues and avoidance due to parent scrutiny
There are also significant complaints regarding traffic volunteering filed by parents to offices of education and district offices. An official from an office of education said, "Since parents cannot file complaints directly with the schools their children attend, the complaints come to the district office or the office of education. There are many cases where they complain, saying 'Why must parents be mobilized for traffic duty?' or 'It's an outdated practice.'"
The official continued, "As the Green Mothers Association is an organization formed by school autonomy, it's not something the office of education can force them not to operate," adding, "Traffic safety guidance in front of schools is essential. If there are no parents, school staff must come out and do it. Since schools need personnel for traffic duty, they seem to have no choice but to encourage mandatory participation from parents."
As parental frustration grows, there is a rising voice that traffic volunteer activities should be replaced by public sector jobs. In fact, many local governments are replacing school arrival traffic guidance with senior job programs. The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it would operate 6,332 senior jobs for school zone traffic guidance by the end of this year.
However, there are many practical limitations to replacing all traffic volunteer work with senior jobs. The biggest issue is the budget. Since senior job programs are operated with local government budgets, the number of personnel that can be supported is limited, making it difficult to place seniors at every school.
An official from an office of education said, "If we need 10 people for traffic safety guidance on the way to school, it would be great if we could replace them all with jobs for seniors, but we can't support that many due to budget issues," adding, "To replace all the traffic volunteer work done by parents with senior jobs, the local government budget would have to increase by tens of billions of won."
The fact that it is difficult to increase the number of personnel because seniors avoid school zone traffic guidance is also pointed out as a problem. An official from an office of education said, "Since they only work for an hour or two during school arrival times, the monthly amount seniors receive is not high. I heard some seniors ask the district office to increase their pay." The current monthly salary for seniors working as child protection zone traffic safety guards is around 270,000 to 290,000 won (for 30 hours of work).
Another official from an office of education sighed and said, "There are over 100 areas for senior job programs, and school zone traffic guidance is one of the jobs that is avoided. Don't they have to stand outside and direct traffic in hot and cold weather?" He added, "Some of the participants are over 80. Since it's hard for them to keep standing, they sometimes sit down to rest for a while. But parents who see that immediately file complaints, claiming they aren't doing their job properly. It's inevitable that it becomes a job that seniors avoid."