Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Continues Exchange Activities with Paris Education Authority

Online Business Agreement Ceremony to Support Exchange Activities

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will support student and teacher exchange activities with the Paris Metropolitan Education Authority in France and continue exchanges and cooperation such as sister school agreements between schools.

On the 26th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will hold an online business agreement ceremony for educational exchange and cooperation with the Paris Metropolitan Education Authority. The ceremony will be conducted via the Zoom video conferencing platform with Christophe Ceretto, the Paris Education Superintendent who took office in July last year, and they plan to sign the business agreement documents exchanged by mail in advance.

The main contents of the business agreement, as an extension of the 2015 agreement, include ▲support for activities such as student exchange programs ▲support for teacher exchange training ▲support for establishing international sister school agreements between schools ▲visits and support from educational exchange delegations of the counterpart country ▲promotion of exchange and cooperation through sharing information in educational administration and supervision ▲support for language education of the counterpart country ▲support for cultural exchanges such as conducting Korea-France ateliers.

Since the first business agreement with the Paris Metropolitan Education Authority in 2015, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has conducted French language education and sister school agreements with local schools. It has also supported the operation of the after-school program "French Atelier," where students learn about French culture, language, and cuisine.

At this online business agreement ceremony, the two superintendents plan to discuss ways to promote educational exchange and cooperation between Seoul and Paris. Lazar Popere, head of the international cooperation team at the Paris Metropolitan Education Authority, said, "We are aware of the excellent quarantine results of the Republic of Korea. We hope to discuss Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s school quarantine measures and changes in education due to the global COVID-19 pandemic during this superintendent discussion."

The Metropolitan Office of Education also plans to conduct the business agreement with New Zealand scheduled for March and overseas teacher training programs online.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "Through the business agreement with the Paris Metropolitan Education Authority, we plan to strengthen international communication and cooperation and implement support according to the agreement for individual schools and affiliated educational institutions."