The Neighborhood Known Only for Private Education... The 'Out-of-School Public Education' System Is Also Impressive

Yangcheon-gu Establishes Future Education Belt in 3 Zones
Yangcheon Education Support Center Opens for Learning and Admission Consulting

Mokdong in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, is famous as a private education hub densely packed with academies, along with Daechi-dong in Gangnam-gu and Junggye-dong in Nowon-gu. In this area with high educational enthusiasm, the Yangcheon District Office is establishing an ‘out-of-school public education’ system to fill the gaps between public and private education that schools or academies cannot satisfy.

Since last year, Lee Gijae, the mayor of Yangcheon-gu, has been hosting a nationwide Y Education Expo, the first of its kind organized by a basic local government. The expo held this spring attracted about 53,000 visitors, establishing itself firmly.

Yangcheon-gu is praised for alleviating parents' concerns by providing one-stop support for learning, college admission, and career education without any cost burden. The photo shows a Saturday class for parents held over the past three weeks. Provided by Yangcheon-gu.

In addition, the district opened the Yangcheon Education Support Center (Mokdong Future Education Center) in Mokdong last September, following the existing Sinjeong-dong ‘Smart Yangcheon Future Education Center,’ and inaugurated the Neopdeul Future Education Center in Sinwol-dong in October. This completed a future education belt covering three regional zones: Sinjeong, Mokdong, and Sinwol within the district.

On the 26th, the reporter visited the Yangcheon Education Support Center, which demonstrates a practical model that out-of-school public education should aim for. The district remodeled a three-story red brick building (total floor area 1,038㎡), formerly used as a neighborhood community center and socio-economic support center, and reopened it as the Yangcheon Education Support Center at the end of last September.

The building is divided by purpose: the first floor houses the Career and Job Experience Support Center, the second floor is the Mokdong Future Education Center, and the third floor contains a seminar room that can accommodate about 50 people. The roles of these three facilities stand out. On the first floor, the Career and Job Experience Support Center has four rooms (consultation rooms). These consultation rooms, which require prior reservation, provide student and parent consulting by specialists in learning, college admission, and entrance exams. They are available for elementary students through exam candidates, offering guidance on school admission suited to the student’s aptitude, effective study methods, and university admission consulting for both early and regular admissions.

On the second floor, the Mokdong Future Education Center offers hands-on experiences with future technologies in the 4th industrial revolution fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and extended reality (XR). These advanced technologies, which will lead the future era, can be experienced in an engaging way, making it especially popular among elementary school students. On the third floor, Saturday classes for parents are held in the seminar room.

Heo Aram, an official from the Yangcheon-gu Education Support Division, said, "We conducted customized classes over three weeks for parents on how to guide and prepare their children for the high school credit system, career paths, and college entrance exams," adding, "We felt the high interest and enthusiastic response."

Mokdong Yangcheon Education Support Center, which opened last September. Provided by Yangcheon-gu.

Yangcheon-gu views education as its greatest urban competitiveness in this residential-centered city and plans to build an education control tower to further grow as an education city. Through one-stop services for learning, college admission, and career guidance, it aims to strengthen learning support such as self-directed learning, one-on-one customized consulting, and provision of entrance exam information.

The mayor stated, "With the establishment of the Yangcheon Education Support Center, a support foundation befitting the status of Yangcheon as an education city has been built. We will stabilize the education support system centered on the center through consulting and customized briefings."