Councilor Jeong Muchang: "Severe Shortage of Student Safety Education Facilities in Gwangju"

Need for a 'Comprehensive Safety Experience Center' to Prepare for Types of Safety Accidents

Jeong Muchang, Gwangju City Council Member

Safety education from an early age is essential to internalize disaster and emergency response methods, but there are concerns about the lack of student safety education facilities.

Jeong Muchang, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party, Gwangsan-gu 2), stated during the administrative audit of the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education on the 4th, “According to the pedestrian traffic accident statistics within 300 meters of schools in 17 cities and provinces as of the end of 2023, Gwangju (2.52%) shows a high rate following Seoul (4.32%), Daegu (3.21%), and Busan (3.07%).” He added, “In the past five years, 1,874 traffic accidents involving children under 13 years old have occurred in Gwangju (2 deaths, 2,393 injuries), highlighting the urgent need to expand safety education facilities for students.”

He continued, “An analysis of the ‘Status of Establishment and Operation of Student Safety Experience Centers’ shows that as of December 2023, 104 centers are established and operated by 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, including comprehensive, small-scale, mobile, and classroom types. However, Gwangju operates only three centers (two small-scale safety experience centers and one classroom-type safety experience center), indicating a shortage of facilities compared to other cities and provinces.”

Among comprehensive safety experience centers that offer various experiential safety education linked to the seven major safety education areas (traffic safety, disaster safety, etc.), there are 10 centers in Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, and others. Except for Jeonbuk, which is scheduled to be established, Gwangju currently operates only three small-scale safety experience centers. Comprehensive safety experience centers have the advantage of allowing students to experience a variety of the seven major safety education areas (traffic safety, disaster safety, violence and personal safety, first aid, fire safety, water safety, disaster safety education).

Councilor Jeong emphasized, “The importance of experiential education to respond to sudden accidents, such as the hotel fire in Jung-dong, Bucheon, is increasing,” and stressed, “There is a need to secure more facilities in the Gwangju area and to develop realistic program support plans.”