South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Office of Education and North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education to strengthen exchange and cooperation

【Financial News, South Jeolla-Gwangju = Hwang Tae-jong, reporter】The South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Office of Education (Gwangju Special City Office of Education) and the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education will strengthen exchange and cooperation following the launch of the integrated education office.
  To that end, the two education offices held the 2026 Yeongnam-Honam Education Exchange Workshop in Yeosu and other locations from the 27th to the 28th, discussing ways to collaborate on the future of education.
 Kim Dae-jung, superintendent of education for South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City, emphasized at the workshop, "The trust and experience in educational exchanges built up over many years by the former South Jeolla Provincial Office of Education and the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education have been a valuable asset in opening up the future of education together across regional boundaries. With the launch of the integrated education office as an opportunity, we will broaden cooperation to include Gwangju, build a foundation for Yeongnam and Honam to grow together, and provide students with a better education."
 Im Jong-sik, superintendent of education for North Gyeongsang Province, also said, "Just as educational exchanges between Yeongnam and Honam, which have continued since 2014, deepened further after the two offices signed an MOU in 2022, this meeting has provided an opportunity to advance trust and cooperation between the two regions to the next level. We will continue to share experience and wisdom from the education field and foster educational cooperation for future generations across regional boundaries."
 According to the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Office of Education (Gwangju Special City Office of Education), educational exchanges between Yeongnam and Honam began in 2014 between the former South Jeolla Provincial Office of Education and the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education, and are now in their 13th year. In particular, exchanges have become more active since the two offices signed an MOU in 2022, and they are developing their cooperative relationship on the basis of mutual understanding and trust.
 The workshop is significant in that, following the launch of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Office of Education (Gwangju Special City Office of Education), it extended to Gwangju the results of exchanges built up by South Jeolla and North Gyeongsang and broadened the scope of educational cooperation between Yeongnam and Honam.
 The Gwangju Special City Office of Education plans to use the workshop as an opportunity to further strengthen existing educational exchanges between Yeongnam and Honam and expand, through interregional cooperation, the educational capacity resulting from the launch of the integrated education office.
 It also plans to maintain ongoing communication and policy exchanges with the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education, seek joint responses to educational issues, and explore education policies together with students' growth and future at their center.
 The workshop was held under the theme "Reading Education to Build Future Competencies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)," and featured a special lecture by Seoul National University Professor Shin Jong-ho and presentations on shared assignments. In particular, participants shared practical approaches to reading education that schools can implement to help students develop the ability to ask questions independently and understand information critically in an era when AI handles information searches and summaries.
 Participants also visited the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Memorial Hall, paid their respects at the memorial tower, and shared the spirit of independence and sense of community embodied in the student independence movement. They took time to consider together how to carry those values forward in education today.

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