Gurye-gun Selected as a Lifelong Learning City

Published 09 Mar.2023 09:27(KST)

Resolving Learning Blind Spots through Lifelong Learning

Restarting Residents, Linking Learning to Jobs and Income

Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 7th that it has been selected as a ‘Lifelong Learning City’ by the Ministry of Education.

A ‘Lifelong Learning City’ refers to a city where a community is formed that allows anyone to enjoy “learning anytime, anywhere, and whatever they want” to improve the quality of individual life and the competitiveness of the entire city.

[Photo by Gurye-gun]

The county is currently in the architectural design phase to transform the (old) Maechun Library into a Lifelong Learning Hub Center.

The Lifelong Learning Hub Center will serve as a platform for lifelong education by designating 30 village schools and nurturing 300 lifelong learning activists to create a lifelong learning city universally enjoyed by all residents.

To eliminate blind spots in lifelong learning, the county plans to designate and operate lifelong learning village schools, including visiting Korean language classes in each village, and lifelong learning centers in towns and townships.

Additionally, plans have been made to overcome the crisis of local extinction through lifelong learning.

The strategy is to prevent the outflow of young people by providing specialized employment and start-up education in cooperation with nearby universities, targeting youth, seniors, and retirees.

To ensure that various lifelong learning projects do not end as one-time events, the county will also promote projects such as organizing learning clubs for each project, customized vocational education, building networks among various stakeholders, and lifelong learning festivals.

Furthermore, a sustainable virtuous cycle lifelong learning system will be established by linking with local industries to create learning-type jobs that generate real income.

A county official stated, “To establish the foundation of a lifelong learning city, we have embarked on various startup systems such as establishing a mid- to long-term development plan for lifelong education, hiring lifelong educators, forming a lifelong education council, and developing sustainable lifelong education programs.”

County Governor Kim Soon-ho said, “Taking this selection as a Lifelong Learning City as an opportunity, we will do our best to create a universal lifelong learning city enjoyed by all residents and actively respond to the risk of local extinction through various jobs and vocational education via lifelong learning, making Gurye a place where young people return.”