180 Learners in Gwanak-gu Literacy Education Complete Course Without Giving Up Learning Despite COVID-19

2020 Gwanak Sejong Writing Room Completion Certificate Ceremony Held... District Mayor Park Junhee Sends Video Message to Literacy Education Learners Who Did Not Give Up Learning Despite COVID-19 Situation

Video Message from Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak District

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) held the ‘2020 Gwanak Sejong Geulbang Certificate Ceremony’ on the 17th.

Instead of holding a graduation ceremony that could not be held due to COVID-19, five learner representatives were invited to receive diplomas and certificates and to encourage the learners.

For many learners who could not attend the ceremony, video letters were sent to support their passion for studying hard without giving up on learning despite the difficulties caused by COVID-19.

About 180 learners who received the video letters replied via KakaoTalk, expressing their feelings such as, “Although we cannot meet, I am grateful to study like this,” “I feel encouraged because the mayor sent support,” and “Although I started studying late, thanks to much support and consideration, I was able to study and want to become a person who contributes to society.”

The district operates 12 literacy education courses for illiterate and uneducated adults, and last year, due to COVID-19, classes were converted to non-face-to-face formats and operated diversely according to the individual learning levels of literacy education learners.

Learners who had difficulty using smartphones were individually guided through phone calls, texts, and voice files, while learners who could use smartphones utilized the KakaoTalk group chat room ‘Live Talk’ to exchange opinions in real time and conduct video classes.

This was the result of continuously operating life literacy education and smartphone education since 2019, which laid the foundation to enable non-face-to-face online classes even under the COVID-19 situation.

Additionally, learning materials were produced by level and subject, assignments were given according to dates to encourage continuous learning, and textbooks, learning materials, stationery, and quarantine supplies were distributed every two months to ensure smooth operation of non-face-to-face classes.

Despite difficulties caused by COVID-19, awards were won in several competitions. Lee Geumnam (75), who won a special prize at the 2020 National Adult Literacy Education Poetry and Painting Contest, expressed regret at not being able to continue learning due to COVID-19 in her poem and painting titled “My Heart in the Schoolbag”: “I cannot meet friends who used to greet me warmly, nor see teachers who kindly welcomed me. The world is becoming empty, and my heart is emptying too. Afraid that my heart that studied hard will disappear, I placed my schoolbag by the door.”

Mayor Park Junhee delivered a message of hope and encouragement to learners by quoting poet Sang-guk Lee’s “About Hope,” saying, “No matter how difficult it is, there has never been a time when hope was completely exhausted,” and stated, “We will support literacy education learners so that they do not give up and continue learning despite the difficult situation caused by COVID-19.”

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