[Interview] Jo Ok-hyun, Chair of the Education Committee of Jeonnam Provincial Council, "School Closures Are a Shortcut to Regional Extinction"

"Local Extinction Crisis Can Be Solved Through 'Educational Innovation'"

Jo Ok-hyun, Chair of the Education Committee of the Jeonnam Provincial Council.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] At the current moment facing the crisis of local extinction, an opinion has been presented that this can be resolved through education.

Jo Ok-hyun, Chair of the Education Committee of the Jeonnam Provincial Council, has raised his voice saying that if children's education is innovated, the outflow of population from local areas can be reduced.

Chairman Jo stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 23rd, “The 16 cities and counties of Jeonnam are currently in danger of local extinction,” and added, “If small schools are well maintained and our children can properly receive future education there through proper management and innovation, it is the answer to saving Jeonnam and preventing population extinction.”

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He emphasized, “As the first measure, the residential-type long-term agricultural and fishing village study abroad program should be revitalized to enable population inflow into Jeonnam,” and “The entire family should move to the area where the study abroad program is conducted and be provided with both housing and jobs so that they can live there for at least 2 to 5 years.”

He also said, “Recently, the residential-type long-term study abroad program promoted by Haenam County is considered a model case,” and “Haenam County was selected this year for a pilot project through a public contest jointly conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s regional development project (in cooperation with LH) and the Ministry of Education’s rural education condition improvement project. A total of 38 households and 62 students are expected to move in through agricultural and fishing village study abroad.”

He continued, “Haenam County will receive 6.2 billion won in project funds and by 2025 will establish LH public rental housing, a multipurpose gymnasium, a community center, and a book cafe in the Bukil-myeon area to provide stable jobs and residential environments to families applying for agricultural and fishing village study abroad.”

He explained that areas where the perception of providing good educational environments for children is established naturally see an increase in population.

Chairman Jo expressed the opinion that cooperation from local governments is important for revitalizing the residential-type long-term agricultural and fishing village study abroad program.

He said, “From the 20th to the 21st, I visited schools and education support offices in Jangheung and Wando areas to listen to the current status of curriculum operation and review local issues,” and “After examining the status of schools in Wando, I felt that Wando could be the best model area for revitalizing the residential-type agricultural and fishing village study abroad program.”

He added, “Wando has high personal income, which is a great advantage for young people returning to farming and rural living,” and “If local governments actively cooperate using funds for responding to local extinction, it is expected to have a greater effect compared to other regions.”

Furthermore, he said, “I thought that the integrated school in Jangheung could become a model for small rural schools in the future,” and “If the small school itself is remodeled into a Green Smart Future School rather than just a simple integration, our children can receive innovative future education.”

Along with this, Chairman Jo emphasized the importance of expanding facilities that can foster smart agricultural management suitable for the 4th Industrial Revolution era and improve academic achievement.

In particular, he criticized the lack of smart farming practice sites at agricultural high schools in Jeonnam.

Chairman Jo pointed out, “So far, Jeonnam has never been selected for smart farming public projects. The reason is that agricultural high schools do not have properly equipped smart farming practice sites,” and “Other regions are already operating agriculture with cutting-edge computers and so on, but Jeonnam is considerably behind.”

He also said, “Utilizing smart farming is an important curriculum that should be established as a basic base from the student stage at school,” and “I plan to revisit this issue during the upcoming administrative audit.”

He added, “For children, practical education through direct experience is much more effective than formal education focused on textbooks,” and “As the chair of the education committee, I will try to make a small start, though insufficient, to achieve this.”

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