Naju City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Yoon Byung-tae) announced on the 13th that it has been newly selected as a ‘Lifelong Learning City for Persons with Disabilities’ by the National Institute of Special Education under the Ministry of Education this year, securing 100 million KRW in national funding.
The city plans to promote 27 customized lifelong learning programs for persons with disabilities across 10 fields by establishing four core goals under the vision of ‘Safe and Non-discriminatory Learning City Naju.’
The four goals are ‘Expanding social participation of persons with disabilities,’ ‘Building a human rights community for persons with disabilities,’ ‘Guaranteeing lifelong education opportunities for all citizens,’ and ‘Expanding independent living and health rights for persons with disabilities.’
By field, the focus is on enhancing the independence capabilities of persons with disabilities as members of society through areas such as ‘basic literacy,’ ‘academic supplementation,’ ‘vocational skills,’ ‘culture and arts,’ and ‘humanities and general education.’
Additionally, the city plans to broadly guarantee opportunities for social participation and lifelong learning by expanding chances for ‘citizen participation,’ ‘social integration of persons with disabilities,’ ‘communication between family generations,’ ‘support for voluntary learning groups,’ and ‘building a learning city infrastructure for persons with disabilities.’
Previously, in 2020, the city was selected as a ‘Lifelong Learning City of Korea’ by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute for Lifelong Education.
Under the vision of ‘Naju Lifelong Education that realizes human value and leaps forward,’ the city has been operating diverse lifelong education programs to ensure that all citizens by generation, class, and region are guaranteed opportunities for self-development and can improve their quality of life.
Through these efforts, the city has consecutively proven its excellence and competitiveness in lifelong learning policies by receiving the Special Award at the 18th Korea Lifelong Learning Awards in 2021, the Excellence Award in 2022, and the Good Policy Award at the 2023 EBS Lifelong Learning Policy Awards.
Mayor Yoon Byung-tae said, “Through the selection as a Lifelong Learning City for Persons with Disabilities, we will build a barrier-free lifelong learning infrastructure so that all 120,000 citizens are not excluded from learning and can participate in the learning they want anywhere.”
Naju = Kim Yuk-bong, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr
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