Gangdong-gu Happy School Wins Silver Award at Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Transforming into My Own School Where I Want to Stay Through Student and Parent Proposals and Design... A Total of 3.9 Billion KRW Supported for 35 Elementary and Secondary Schools by This Year, Continuously Expanding Creative School Spaces

Myo-gok Elementary School, Godeok-dong

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) won the Silver Award in the Government Innovation category at the 2020 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards announced on the 14th.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, hosted by the U.S.-based Stevie Awards, are known as the Oscars of the business world, evaluating and sharing innovative achievements of companies, organizations, and public institutions.

The project for which Gangdong-gu received the Silver Award is the ‘Happy School Project,’ where students and parents directly propose ideas and remodel school spaces with the help of experts.

Since last year, under the concept of ‘spatial welfare’ with the motto ‘If the space changes, the child changes,’ the district has been remodeling dull corridors, lobbies, building backyards, and libraries reminiscent of study rooms.

The project began with the awareness that most school facilities are rigid quadrilateral structures designed for easy surveillance and control, and that uniform colors and designs have hindered children’s communication and creativity.

The district dispatched experts to provide education enabling students, parents, and teachers to recognize problems in the spaces and directly propose areas needing improvement and directions for enhancement.

The ideas proposed here were designed and constructed by experts to help recreate satisfying and safe spaces.

Through this project, Myogok Elementary School in Godeok-dong transformed its shabby corridors into spaces where children can read and play together, and Gangsol Elementary School’s empty building backyard was reborn as a play and rest area.

Seonsa High School’s lobbies on each floor were converted into book caf?-style community spaces, receiving great responses from students and parents.

Following 17 schools last year, the district plans to expand the project to 18 schools this year, with a total budget of 3.9 billion KRW.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “For children who feel their opinions reflected in the changing school spaces, the Happy School Project itself is a living education. We will continue to support so that children leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution can have creative thinking and enjoy school life.”

Last year, the Asia-Pacific Awards world ceremony was held in Singapore, but this year, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), it will be conducted online, with certificates and trophies sent by mail respectively.

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