An Min-seok: "Children's Future Begins with Education Office and Local Governments Breaking Down Walls"

The Gyeonggi Province Office of Education (Superintendent An Min-seok) is hosting "Regional 'Breaking Down Walls' Breakfast Meetings" with 25 district offices of education and 31 municipal and county local governments across the province to break down barriers between educational administration and general administration and resolve regional educational issues.

Beginning with the Western Region on the 24th, the Provincial Office of Education will hold breakfast meetings on the 25th for the Southern Region, the 26th for the Eastern Region, and in September for the Northern Region, with Gyeonggi Province Superintendent An Min-seok, regional superintendents, and mayors and county governors participating. The meetings will identify cooperation tasks suited to regional characteristics and needs and devise implementation plans.

The first Western Region breakfast meeting on the 24th was held at the Ansan Office of Education. The meeting was attended by heads of eight municipalities and counties—Anyang, Gwacheon, Gunpo, Uiwang, Siheung, Bucheon, Gwangmyeong, and Ansan—and six regional superintendents.

The meeting explored cooperation methods between district offices of education and local governments, focusing on △school complex facilities and school facility accessibility △improvement of student commuting conditions △activation of 'RAS Gyeonggi Arts and Physical Education' △phone-free and reading education △linkage with childcare and local resources.

Notably, the effort is significant in that the Provincial Office of Education moves away from presenting uniform projects, with superintendents and mayors and county governors directly identifying "wall-breaking tasks" based on regional characteristics and student needs and discussing implementation plans.

At the breakfast meeting, Superintendent An Min-seok stated, "Before the children's issues, there is no separate work for the education office and local government," and continued, "Superintendents and mayors and county governors must meet directly to jointly solve regional education and childcare issues."

The Provincial Office of Education plans to concretize regional cooperation tasks discussed at these meetings and establish a sustainable local education cooperation system in which district offices of education and local governments jointly implement projects.