140 Years of Modern Education in Seoul Under One Roof

[Financial News] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) will hold “Seoul Education Records Week” for five days, from the 12th through the 16th, at its new headquarters in Yongsan to mark the 70th anniversary of its establishment. A special exhibition looking back at 140 years of modern schools will run from the 12th through November 30 on the first floor of the new headquarters.
The special exhibition is titled “Stories of 140 Years of Modern Schools in Seoul That Fostered Dreams.” The opening ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. on the 13th. The exhibition will be organized around six themes, including “New Learning, the Birth of Modern Schools,” “From Classrooms of Liberation to Learning Spaces Amid War,” and “Learning Beyond the Classroom, Classrooms Beyond Digital.” An exhibition of original items under the theme “Our Forebears Found in Textbooks” will also be on view.
A forum titled “From a Century-Old School to a Space in Dialogue with the City” will be held at 3 p.m. on the 13th on the community staircase in the basement of the new headquarters. Jo Gyeong-jin, a Seoul National University professor and SMOE’s educational space adviser, will present a vision for Seoul’s future educational spaces. Lee Hwa-ryong, an emeritus professor at Kongju National University, will speak on “The Potential for Community Connections Through Urban Campuses Amid a Declining School-Age Population,” while An Chang-mo, a professor at Kyonggi University, will present “Future Spaces for Modern Educational Heritage.” A panel discussion with students, parents, school staff and others will follow.
SMOE said the Records Week was organized to look back at the changes and achievements of 70 years of education in Seoul since the Seoul Metropolitan Board of Education was established in 1956, and at the 140-year history of modern schools that began with Yukyeong Gongwon, the first government-run school, in 1886. The event aims to give students, parents, school staff and citizens a chance to explore education’s past and present and consider its future direction together.
Events will also be held for education-sector officials. At 3 p.m. on the 14th, records scholar Kim Ik-han will give a special lecture in the auditorium at the new headquarters on “The Power of Records to Change Work and Life.” On the 15th and 16th, a joint records management council meeting will be held in a conference room on the third floor of the new headquarters, with around 100 records researchers from metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide attending to discuss ways to preserve and make use of archival heritage in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
Follow-up projects will continue so people can explore the history of Seoul’s education even after Records Week ends. Videos of the special exhibition will be made available online and will remain accessible after the exhibition closes through the Seoul Education Digital Archive. A commemorative book, “Stories of 70 Years of Seoul Education,” covering the history of education, major policy achievements and changes in education statistics, is also planned for publication.

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter