Songpa-gu Local Autonomy Education Model 'SongpaSsaem' Wins Gold Award at Local Autonomy Awards

[Seoul District News] SongpaSaem Used by 240,000 Residents Annually, Proving Songpa-gu’s Successful Educational Autonomy Model... District Mayor Park Seong-su States “Education is the Foundation of Resident Autonomy, Hoping SongpaSaem Becomes a Precedent for Local Government Education in the COVID-19 Era”... Gangdong District Office’s Open Art Museum in Its 3rd Year Presents 'Sometimes an Art Museum; A Moment to Stay'

Park Sung-soo, Mayor of Songpa-gu, delivering an acceptance speech for the Gold Award in Human Resources at the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Awards

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) won the Gold Award, the highest prize in the Human Resources category, at the ‘2021 Local Autonomy Decentralization Awards’ on the 19th with its self-developed education support system ‘Songpa SSEM (Songpa Smart Education Model)’.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of local autonomy, this awards ceremony was co-hosted by the Local Autonomy Decentralization Local Government Council and others. ‘Songpa SSEM’ was honored for its distinctive human resource development tailored to regional characteristics and excellent local government capabilities. Notably, the judging process included a ‘Citizen Participation Group,’ adding further significance to the event.

With the vision of being the ‘largest school in the world,’ ‘Songpa SSEM’ is a flagship project of Mayor Park Seong-su and a successful model of educational autonomy used by over 240,000 residents in 2021 alone. It goes beyond exam-oriented education programs and simple local education integration platforms to provide everything related to lifelong education for all residents.

Its core infrastructure includes ▲ ‘Person Library,’ where residents can meet the knowledge and wisdom of various celebrities and experts from Songpa-gu both online and offline ▲ ‘Instrument Library,’ where any resident can experience and enjoy musical instruments ▲ ‘Education Portal,’ which integrates and connects 55 educational facilities and systems within the region ▲ and 12 Future Education Centers where residents can learn 4th Industrial Revolution technologies such as AI coding and autonomous driving, and where local instructors are trained, leading to job creation.

At the awards ceremony, Mayor Park Seong-su said, “I created ‘Songpa SSEM’ with the belief that the foundation of resident autonomy lies in education,” adding, “I hope the ‘Songpa SSEM’ model will serve as a good example to rethink the role of education that local governments must perform in the era of decentralization and the COVID-19 era.”

At the ‘Local Autonomy Decentralization Expo’ held concurrently, Songpa-gu attracted attention by exhibiting a model of ‘Songpa Dullegil,’ Korea’s representative walking tour course, and a doll of the official character ‘Songsong-Papa,’ which symbolizes Songpa-gu.

Through the high-quality educational infrastructure built with ‘Songpa SSEM,’ Songpa-gu was selected as an ‘Excellent Lifelong Learning City,’ an honor given to the top five autonomous districts in the ‘Lifelong Learning City Re-designation Evaluation’ conducted by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute for Lifelong Education in 2020, and won the ‘UNESCO Special Award for Lifelong Learning in Korea’ for two consecutive years.

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) announced that its open art gallery ‘Sometimes a Gallery; Stay for a While,’ which operates the district office building as an exhibition space for artworks, has started its first exhibition of the year.

Now in its third year, the Gangdong-gu Office’s ‘Open Art Gallery’ transforms the corridors of the district office building into exhibition spaces, allowing residents to enjoy culture and arts up close. Since its launch in March 2020, the open gallery has broken down the high walls of culture and arts, comforting both visiting residents and overworked staff, receiving great acclaim.

This year, under the theme ‘Hope 希望 Hope,’ artworks are exhibited on each floor of the Gangdong-gu Office main building with sub-themes: ▲ ‘Living Daily Life’ (2nd floor) ▲ ‘Connecting Relationships’ (3rd floor) ▲ ‘Dancing Self’ (4th floor) ▲ ‘Advancing Hope’ (5th floor).

The district plans to showcase about 200 works by prominent domestic artists actively working in the art world, changing the themes three times until the end of the year, delivering a message of hope to overcome COVID-19 together.

Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon of Gangdong-gu said, “This exhibition reflects the residents who have shown that hope is not far away through small daily happiness, the restoration of relationships and communication, and self-realization even amid COVID-19,” adding, “I hope the open art gallery becomes a warm space where visitors and staff can sometimes stay for a while and feel the warmth of hope.”