"Children Are the Nation's Treasure"...Why Did Teacher Bang Jeong-hwan Invest in Education in Jungnang-gu Where He Rested?

Jungnang-gu is ambitiously advancing the Bang Jeong-hwan Education Support Center, aiming for completion in the first half of next year... Located in Sangbong-dong, the center will span 2 basement levels and 7 floors above ground, housing a career experience center, education support center, and lifelong learning center, serving as an educational control tower.

Ryukyung-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, is visiting Mangwoo History and Culture Park and reading an informational sign about Teacher Bang Jeong-hwan.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “Children are a generation newer than adults.”

-Sopa Bang Jeong-hwan-

Jungnang-gu, located in the northeastern part of Seoul, is bordered on the west by the Jungnangcheon Stream, with 39.7% of its area covered by green spaces, making it easy to enjoy natural scenery rarely found in urban areas.

To the east and north, Yongmasan, Bonghwasan, and Manguisan mountains surround the area like a folding screen, offering an unparalleled natural environment.

In particular, Jungnang-gu (District Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi) is home to relics from the Paleolithic and Three Kingdoms periods, as well as Joseon Dynasty historical sites. Among them, the representative site is Manguri Park.

Here, trees each hang light green leaves, and flowers that have yet to fully bloom are gradually finding the colorful hues of spring. This place feels as if time has stopped, breathing history.

Notable figures in Korean history such as Manhae Han Yong-un, independence activist Yu Gwan-sun, Oh Se-chang, and artist Lee Jung-seop rest here. Although once shunned due to its image as Manguri Public Cemetery, Jungnang-gu is striving to transform Manguri Park into Mangwoo Historical and Cultural Park, which is likely the reason behind this effort.

The burial site of Bang Jeong-hwan, the founder of Children's Day, is also located here. Sopa’s quiet legacy has left much for education in Jungnang-gu.

Perhaps this is why Sopa is at Manguri Park. Especially, the Bang Jeong-hwan Education Support Center, ambitiously promoted by Jungnang-gu, is currently underway with a target completion in the first half of 2021.

The support center, to be located in Sangbong-dong, will be a complex educational facility with two basement floors and seven above ground floors, including a career and job experience center, education support center, and lifelong learning center, serving as a control tower for education.

Jungnang-gu’s commitment that “investment in education is the hope for the future of Jungnang” aligns with Bang Jeong-hwan’s belief that “children are the treasures of the nation.”

Education expenses have also increased to 6 billion KRW, a rise of 1 billion KRW compared to the previous year. This ranks fourth among Seoul’s autonomous districts.

The district also operates an Innovation Education Zone. It plans to invest a total of 3 billion KRW, 1.5 billion KRW annually from last year through the end of this year, to support school curricula in cooperation with the community, as well as children and youth autonomous activities.

The chronological monument built along the contemplative path in Manguri Park, a mountain of history education, is perfect for historical learning. A welcome center will also be established within Manguri Park, featuring an education room and caf? to provide historical education and a resting space for residents.

Programs linked with nearby Jungnang Camping Forest and Yongma Theme Park will be developed to make Manguri Park a representative historical and cultural tourist destination in Jungnang-gu, where forest, walking trails, and patriotic martyrs’ burial sites coexist.

Perspective View of Bang Jeong-hwan Education Support Center

The district plans to promote a project to diversify the memorial spaces in the burial grounds according to the characteristics of famous figures’ achievements and lives.

Additionally, it will discover more burial sites of notable figures and develop various programs such as related exploration courses.

Manguri Park is not just a park. Our past, our history breathes there. Just as a person’s arrival brings their past, present, and future together, the existence of history means our past, present, and future exist.

The arrival of a person is truly a tremendous event.

Because they come with their past, present,

and their future.

Because a person’s entire life comes.

-From poet Jeong Hyeon-jong’s “Among Visitors”-

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.