Gwangyang City Council Initiates Discovery of Child and Youth Policies

Parents Attend and Propose Various Policy Suggestions

The Gwangyang City Council of Jeollanam-do (Chairman Seo Young-bae) announced that it held a meeting with stakeholders on the 29th at the Gwangyang City Council rest area to discover policies for children and adolescents.

At the meeting, Chairman Seo Young-bae, Vice Chairman Baek Seong-ho, Councilors Kim Jeong-im, Jeong Hoe-gi, Kim Bora, and two other councilors, along with 23 parents, attended.

[Photo by Gwangyang City Council]

The meeting, chaired by Councilor Kim Jeong-im, began with an introduction to the major child and adolescent support projects being promoted by the city, followed by listening to suggestions from the attendees.

The parents attending the meeting first asserted that "to protect the lives of children, it is urgent to strengthen survival swimming education and expand facilities."

The parents stated, "The short education time makes it difficult not only to develop survival swimming skills but also to become familiar with water," and requested an extension of the survival swimming program hours.

In line with this, they proposed that at least one of the two swimming facilities facing closure be kept open so that students can receive minimum survival swimming education, and if that is not possible, they suggested the construction of a 'Jungma Area Swimming Pool' as a replacement.

They also pointed out the problem in the education field where students wear swimsuits during survival swimming education, which does not reflect real-life situations.

Furthermore, they highlighted the reality of severe shortages of facilities for children and adolescents in the region, requesting the construction of a 'Youth Culture Center in Madong Area' and proposing the installation of fences to separate spaces for each facility so that students can safely and conveniently use volleyball and basketball facilities.

The students emphasized that accessibility is the most important factor in using youth and sports facilities, but students from Gwangyeong, Geumho, and Madong areas experience inconvenience in using youth facilities such as Seonghwang Sports Center and Youth Culture Center, and requested measures such as shuttle bus operation to improve this.

Councilor Kim Jeong-im said, "This meeting was a meaningful opportunity to listen to what policies parents want and desire for our children and what difficulties they face," adding, "We will carefully review the opinions proposed today and create good policies so that children and adolescents can grow up safely and healthily."

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr