Park Seung-won, the mayor of Gwangmyeong, emphasized on the 23rd that "lifelong learning in the era of a basic society is a fundamental right that enables citizens to navigate a changing world and is a crucial investment in the future of our city."
During the '3rd National Lifelong Learning City Festival' forum for agency heads, Mayor Park presented Gwangmyeong's lifelong learning policies and vision under the theme 'In the Era of a Basic Society, Citizen Growth Drives Urban Growth.'
He highlighted lifelong learning as a key driver for sustainable urban growth in the basic society era, expressing his commitment to connecting citizen education with community transformation and urban development.
"When citizens learn and collaborate to solve local issues, the experiences gained in that process become assets for the city, enabling sustainable growth," he stated.
This underscores the essential role of lifelong learning in building citizen capacity to respond to a rapidly changing society and harnessing that capacity to shape the city's future.
To this end, Mayor Park is accelerating democratic citizenship education that realizes the values of dignity, freedom, equality, participation, and solidarity in citizens' daily lives.
The aim is to strengthen community capacity through mutual respect for differing opinions and rights, resolving conflicts through dialogue, and collaboratively addressing local challenges.
Mayor Park also identified 'community asset building through lifelong learning' as a key policy direction, supporting citizens in forming clubs based on their learning and expanding activities such as starting social solidarity economy enterprises.
His strategy involves creating a virtuous cycle where the content, relationships, spaces, and experiences formed in this process are accumulated as community assets and utilized for further citizen growth.
To broaden learning opportunities for citizens, Gwangmyeong operates 707 programs through the Gwangmyeong Autonomous University and local community centers, 315 programs through intermediary support organizations, and 323 programs in humanities and vocational education directly managed by the city.
Learning spaces are being established throughout the community, with support aimed at linking education to enhancing local governance and solving regional issues.
The festival also highlighted Gwangmyeong's achievements in lifelong learning.
Yoon Young-hee, head of the Lifelong Learning Institute, received the Education Committee Chair Award for contributions to the development of lifelong learning cities, while Kim Min-hee, an official at the Gwangmyeong Lifelong Learning Center, won an encouragement award in a video contest for her work titled 'Learning Needed Interpretation.'
Mayor Park is set to share related policies and operational cases as a finalist in the 'Good Policy Awards' and the 'Lifelong Learning Club Presentation Contest.'
He added, "I will create a lifelong learning city where the education of each citizen leads to community transformation and urban growth."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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