The government’s extra budget spending plan announced Wednesday will include increasing the number of air purifiers to be installed in elementary school classrooms to better protect young pupils against harmful fine dust pollution, officials said. Officials at the Ministry of Education said it will also expand financial support for part-time lecturers in the humanities and social science fields to encourage their research activities. The government proposed a 6.7 trillion-won (US$5.8 billion) extra budget on the day to cope with an economic slowdown and growing concern about unemployment and ultrafine dust.

According to the officials, the education ministry will spend an additional 11.5 billion won, on top of the already secured 21 billion won, to install air purifiers in all after-school child care classrooms at elementary schools nationwide this year. An average of 3.3 million won will be allotted to each of the 3,484 after-school child care classrooms, which are now without indoor air cleaners, they explained. The ministry’s budget of 46.4 billion won needed to install air purifiers in all state-run elementary school classrooms will be increased by 2.9 billion won.