Songpa-gu Enhances Synergy Effect by Linking 'Doraeul' and 'Songpa Saem'

[Seoul District News] Songpa-gu Explores Development Directions for Youth Cultural Space 'Doraeul'... Gwanak-gu Recruits New Students for Creative Arts Gifted Education Center with Seoul National University... Jung-gu Expands After-School Programs to All Public Elementary Schools Starting This Year... Seocho-gu Collaborates with KAIST to Foster Talent for the 4th Industrial Revolution... Seongbuk Campus Town Online Academy Opens Enrollment... Dongdaemun-gu Selects Haeseong Girls' High School for 2022 High School-University Talent Development Project... Guro-gu Recruits Participants for Online Youth Exchange with Fairfax County, USA

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) held a meeting with facility managers on the 15th to explore ways to revitalize and develop ‘Doraeul,’ the district’s unique youth cultural space.

Songpa-gu Mayor Park Seong-su stated, “In a situation where opportunities for youth activities have decreased due to COVID-19, we arranged this meeting to listen to the voices from the field who are striving to provide safe and beneficial programs.”

‘Doraeul’ means ‘a fence where peers gather.’ It is a special cultural space unique to Songpa-gu, consisting of 15 locations where youth can comfortably use. It discovers idle spaces in both public and private sectors and supports various experiential and cultural activities such as sports, baking, dance, and cooking.

Mayor Park Seong-su said, “‘Doraeul’ is located close to youths’ homes and serves as a place for various career and job experiences for youths whose opportunities for career exploration have decreased due to academic burdens. Moving forward, we will strive to foster future-oriented creative talents by linking the excellent programs of Doraeul and Songpa-gu’s education support system ‘SongpaSsem.’”

In particular, the district held this meeting at ‘Cultural Experiment Space Hosu,’ a complex cultural space at Seokchon Lake operated by the district. This was to enhance synergy by mutually linking various cultural activities promoted by the district along with Doraeul.

Additionally, the district provided guidance on the Doraeul youth cultural space contest project, accepting applications until March 18, and informed about current issues such as COVID-19 quarantine guidelines applied to youth facilities and the Serious Accident Punishment Act, urging efforts for safe facility operation.

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is recruiting the 10th batch of new students for the Gwanak Creative Arts Gifted Education Center (Director Jo In-ho).

The ‘Gwanak Creative Arts Gifted Education Center’ is a school-government cooperation project between Gwanak-gu and Seoul National University College of Fine Arts (Dean Kim Seong-hee), operating an arts gifted education program aimed at nurturing talents who possess creativity and character, including imagination, creativity, problem awareness, consideration for cooperative learning, and teamwork.

All educational programs are free of charge, and from May to October this year, integrated arts education based on fine arts covering humanities, science, history, etc., will be conducted on Saturdays and during vacations. Classes will be conducted both face-to-face (at Seoul National University College of Fine Arts classrooms, etc.) and online (via ZOOM), depending on the COVID-19 situation.

Applicants are elementary school students in grades 4 to 6 residing in Gwanak-gu. The basic class (30 students) will recruit new students, and the advanced class (15 students) will re-select graduates of the 9th batch from 2021, recruiting a total of 45 students (including 9 from socially disadvantaged groups).

The selection schedule for new students starts with application submission from March 21 to 25 for five days, followed by the announcement of the first document screening results on April 8, the second screening (practical evaluation and in-depth interview) on April 16, and the final successful candidates announcement on April 25.

For more details, contact the Gwanak-gu Education Support Division or visit the Gwanak Creative Arts Gifted Education Center website at Seoul National University.

A district official said, “The Gwanak Creative Arts Gifted Education Center does not merely provide art education but also holds student exhibitions before graduation to allow students to express their creativity and infinite potential. We will continue to provide opportunities for our students to grow as leaders in culture and arts through specialized arts education programs utilizing Seoul National University’s excellent human and material resources.”

Duksu Elementary School Webtoon Class Scene

Jung-gu (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) will expand the ‘Jung-gu Type After-School Program’ to all public elementary schools in the district.

The ‘Jung-gu Type After-School Program’ is a form where Jung-gu directly operates the after-school program by receiving public consignment from schools, which had been previously operated by private consignment.

Last year, the district piloted the after-school programs at Bongnae Elementary and Cheonggu Elementary, receiving high praise from parents. By providing high-quality and diverse programs and excellent instructors, all free of charge, based on thorough demand surveys, it is accelerating the realization of universal educational welfare.

Based on the know-how gained from the pilot operation, the district will fully expand the ‘Jung-gu Type After-School Program’ to all public elementary schools in the area starting this month. The standard operation plan for after-school programs prepared through the pilot will be commonly applied, but the support scale and detailed operation standards differ according to school characteristics. The types of programs and operation methods reflect parents’ survey results and opinions from the parent promotion group.

Accordingly, popular courses such as native English, cooking, and badminton have been expanded by adding classes. Computer programs will be operated in a way that supplements and strengthens coding, ITQ, and PPT classes, which have high parental demand and can continuously connect with the curriculum during private consignment operation.

The 2022 Jung-gu Type After-School Program, which started on the 14th, opened 18 to 24 programs per school, adjusting class sizes flexibly according to program characteristics. The program operation cycle is organized in six-month units to ensure continuity of learning.

As a result of the registration application conducted for a week from the 3rd, 2,059 students, 64% of the total 3,207 public elementary school students, applied for the after-school program. Overall, the application rate was higher among lower grades, but in the pilot schools Bongnae Elementary and Cheonggu Elementary, participation of upper-grade students (grades 5-6) increased significantly compared to last year. The most common number of courses chosen per student was two, accounting for 44-45% per school.

In January, 81 excellent instructors were selected through an after-school instructor recruitment, and internal training was conducted. The district plans to conduct regular group training and online/offline job training as needed to enhance instructors’ qualifications and capabilities. Meanwhile, parents’ opinions will be continuously collected through ongoing monitoring and surveys, and non-face-to-face open classes using YouTube will be operated to satisfy parents’ right to know, while effective lecture evaluations will lead to qualitative improvements in future programs.

A district official said, “To ensure field-oriented operation through constant two-way communication between the district office and schools, dedicated coordinators were assigned to both the district office and schools to improve work efficiency. This year, we will form an after-school education advisory group consisting of education office officials, after-school teachers from each school, and education experts to share know-how by field and focus on stabilizing the operation of the Jung-gu Type After-School Program.”

Seocho-gu announced that ‘Seocho AI College,’ a youth talent development program leading the 4th industrial revolution, will start its third course thanks to residents’ support.

From this course, robot coding education has been newly added to the regular curriculum to nurture more specialized talents for the 4th industrial revolution.

Since 2019, ‘Seocho AI College,’ conducted in cooperation with KAIST (SW Education Center), has been a representative youth education project of Seocho-gu that provides core technology education to prepare for the 4th industrial revolution era, nurturing specialized talents needed by companies and supporting employment in a one-stop manner.

Especially, this year’s education, starting now, has strengthened professionalism based on feedback from previous graduates. To this end, the basic course was changed from 8 weeks to 6 weeks, the robot coding education previously operated separately last year was integrated into ‘Seocho AI College,’ and the advanced course was extended from 8 weeks to 10 weeks to enhance trainees’ practical capabilities.

Applicants are job-seeking youths aged 19 to 39, and applications can be submitted on the Seocho-gu website by the 22nd. Starting with an online orientation on the 28th, the program will provide a KAIST-exclusive curriculum taught by specialized professors, covering basic to advanced levels and portfolio projects over three courses, totaling six months. Outstanding students will be selected in each batch to enhance competitiveness.

The basic course is a 6-week program with online education for 300 trainees, teaching programming basics, data structures and algorithms, and Python language so that even non-majors can easily start programming. Professors introduce various cases to engage trainees, and once a week, offline feedback lectures supplement parts difficult to understand in online classes.

The advanced course is a 10-week program selecting 80 outstanding students from the basic course, offering lectures on cutting-edge 4th industrial technologies such as the newly added robot coding, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and full-stack services.

The final portfolio project is an 8-week program for 30 outstanding students from the advanced course, providing practical specialized education applicable to the field. Trainees perform projects in teams and receive coaching and feedback from mentors composed of AI practical researchers. At the project presentation, local 4th industrial companies participate to connect outstanding young talents for recruitment.

The district awards certificates of completion signed by the KAIST president to 30 final graduates and offers internship opportunities at 4th industrial-related companies. For graduates who wish, interview opportunities are provided at AI Yangjae Hub resident companies, supporting their hiring as interns. The district also supports wages for companies hiring interns.

In fact, last year, the district connected outstanding graduates of Seocho AI College with 4th industrial companies as interns, achieving results of converting them to regular employees.

Acting Mayor Cheon Jeong-wook said, “Through education aligned with the 4th industrial revolution era, we aim to help young people struggling with employment difficulties and will continue to promote ‘Youth Accompaniment Projects’ so that youths can dream of a bright future.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) is promoting the 2022 ‘High School-University Linked Talent Development Project’ to contribute to nurturing creative talents by utilizing excellent university resources and personnel to provide career and aptitude customized education to local high school students.

The High School-University Linked Talent Development Project is designed to link autonomous districts, high schools, and universities to provide high school students with various career and aptitude education opportunities beyond traditional curriculum-based learning, aiming for balanced educational development and nurturing future talents.

According to the results of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s external review committee, Haeseong Girls’ High School was selected as the project target school in Dongdaemun-gu this year.

Haeseong Girls’ High School will operate 14 programs in three areas?regular classes, club activities, and career and college entrance?from March to February next year in cooperation with Seoul National University, University of Seoul, and Kyung Hee University.

This talent development project is expected to receive great responses from many students and teachers by presenting directions for career and college entrance choices for new jobs in the post-COVID-19 era and providing convergence education difficult to experience in regular classes.

Dongdaemun-gu Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol said, “‘High School-University Linked Talent Development Project’ was prepared to help high school students who are suffering from educational polarization and lack of career and college entrance information due to COVID-19 to learn and acquire essential fields within the framework of public education. We will continue to provide differentiated educational content according to residents’ demands, strive to nurture creative talents, and lead the creation of Dongdaemun-gu as a top education city leading future society.”

Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) is recruiting students for the ‘Seongbuk Sog Modu-ui Daehak SB University’ online academy, which provides university-specific specialized educational content to local residents in cooperation with campus town participating universities in Seongbuk-gu.

SB University is a project that builds a cooperative network between Seongbuk-gu and campus town participating universities in Seongbuk-gu (Seokyeong University, Korea University, Dongduk Women’s University, Hansung University), providing specialized content from each university to local residents both online and offline, offering content in various fields such as entrepreneurship, culture, and arts.

This semester’s program will run a total of 10 programs from April 1 to May with various schedules, and applications will be accepted from March.

Residents wishing to apply can register for programs on the Seongbuk Learning Portal website, and inquiries about registration can be made to the Seongbuk-gu Urban Planning Division.

A Seongbuk-gu official said, “Seongbuk-gu has the most universities among the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul, and many of these universities actively participate in the campus town project and related linkage projects. We will do our best to provide special content from each university so that residents can experience diverse content.”

Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Seong) is recruiting participants for the Fairfax County, USA online youth exchange program.

Guro-gu stated on the 16th, “This program was prepared to provide youth with opportunities to improve foreign language skills and engage in international cultural exchange. Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, it will be conducted online again in the first half of this year.”

Applicants must be youths aged 14 to 17 residing in Guro-gu or students from 2nd grade middle school to 2nd grade high school attending schools in the district, with a total of 10 participants.

Selected participants will be paired one-on-one with Fairfax County youths and engage in eight exchange sessions from April 11 to May 21. Using Zoom for real-time exchange or Padlet to record and share videos, they will discuss various topics in Korean and English.

After the program ends, participants will receive certificates of completion, and outstanding participants will be awarded certificates.

Those wishing to participate should fill out the application form posted in the news section of the district office website by the 27th and submit it via email.

Guro-gu will notify the selection results individually on the 30th after document screening.

The Fairfax County Department of Education has maintained a special agreement with Guro-gu since 2009, continuously exchanging youth. Previously, youths from Guro-gu and the USA visited each other’s cities alternately, engaging in homestays, historical explorations, and sightseeing, but since last year, exchanges have been conducted online due to COVID-19.

A Guro-gu official said, “We hope our youth will strengthen their international capabilities through communication with new friends and will strive to expand exchanges in various ways in the future.”

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