Seodaemun-gu and Petaling Jaya City of Malaysia Exchange Lifelong Learning Policies

Seongheon Lee, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu (fifth from the right), and Samsul Bahari Nonchi, Head of the Learning City Headquarters of Petaling Jaya City, Malaysia (sixth from the right), are taking a commemorative photo. (Photo by Seodaemun-gu Office)

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Seongheon) announced on the 5th that five officials, including Samsul Bahari Nonchi, Head of the Learning City Headquarters of Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, recently visited the Seodaemun-gu Life Care Lifelong Learning Center.

Petaling Jaya is a member city of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), just like Seodaemun-gu. This visit was made to benchmark Seodaemun-gu's lifelong learning policies. The GNLC was established by UNESCO to promote sustainable development and mutual cooperation among learning cities worldwide, with 356 cities from 79 countries currently participating.

Seodaemun-gu and Petaling Jaya share a connection from jointly receiving the UNESCO GNLC Learning City Award at the 4th UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities held in Medell?n, Colombia, in 2019.

The district introduced the visiting delegation to its overall lifelong learning policies and guided them to experience classes such as barista, photography, garden flower arrangement, sock craft, and the touch wall at the Life Care Lifelong Learning Center. Petaling Jaya introduced its lifelong learning policies to Seodaemun-gu, including a ‘free bus service project’ connecting public learning spaces.

In his welcoming remarks, Seodaemun-gu Mayor Lee Seongheon said, “I hope this exchange will help both cities develop further as lifelong learning cities and foster mutual cooperation.” Samsul Bahari Nonchi, Head of the Learning City Headquarters, responded, “Thank you for the warm welcome, and we invite Seodaemun-gu staff to visit Petaling Jaya.”