Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Holds Forum to Explore Policies on 'Child Education Inequality'

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education held a forum to explore concrete policies addressing educational inequality among children.

On the 5th, the Gwangju Office of Education announced that it hosted the ‘13th World Human Rights Cities Forum, Children and Youth Thematic Meeting’ at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center.

This thematic meeting was one of the education sector discussions during the World Human Rights Cities Forum, which began the previous day.

Aligned with the forum’s theme, ‘Cities Responding to Poverty and Inequality,’ the meeting was held under the topic ‘How Should Education Respond to Inequality?’ chaired by Professor Hong Gwan-pyo of the Public Interest Human Rights Law Center at Chonnam National University.

Education experts and the three main stakeholders in education (students, parents, and staff) shared the current state of educational inequality and sought future-oriented solutions.

Professor Kim Jin-young of Konkuk University began with a keynote presentation titled ‘Why Should We Consider the Issue of Educational Inequality?’ followed by presentations on ‘The Reality of Educational Inequality in Schools’ by Senior Researcher Baek Byung-bu of the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Education and ‘Inclusive Future Education Led by Local Governments’ by Principal Jeong Yong-ju of Seoul Cheonwang Elementary School.

Following the presentations, Shin Hae-young (student at Gwangju Supia Girls’ Middle School), Han Bin (student at Salesio Girls’ High School), Yang Mi-hyun (teacher at Salesio Middle School), and Kim So-hee (parent at Gwangju Girls’ Commercial High School) participated as the three education stakeholders, engaging in a lively Q&A session about the presentations. This thematic meeting was structured to allow real-time online participation, and the presented papers and discussion documents are available on the official website.

Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon stated, “We will strive to reduce the gap in educational opportunities so that current inequalities do not lead to future inequalities,” adding, “To this end, we will discover specific policies and seek practical measures together to support education as a ladder of hope.”

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