Superintendent Taehee Lim: "We Must Learn Difference and Harmony Together for Korea's Development"

Exploring Policy Directions Through a Visit to a Multicultural Education Site in Ansan
Encouraging Students During a Visit to the Gyeonggi Korean Language School

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (Superintendent Taehee Lim) visited a multicultural education site in Ansan, the area with the highest concentration of multicultural students in Korea, on the 17th to explore future policy directions.

Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education Taehee Lim is talking with multicultural students at Ansan Global Youth Center on the 17th. Provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education

Superintendent Lim visited the Gyeonggi Korean Language School (Ansan Global Youth Center), an institution that provides intensive Korean language education for newly arrived multicultural students, to encourage students and school officials.

Ansan Global Youth Center currently offers Korean language education to 57 multicultural youths, including middle and high school students as well as out-of-school youths. Superintendent Lim spoke with students participating in the program and observed an online class together with them.

Superintendent Lim then met with local community representatives, including Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun, to discuss future plans for the (tentatively named) Gyeonggi Ansan No.1 School, which is planned to be established to promote the joint growth of both multicultural and general students.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education plans to work with Ansan City to develop a blueprint for nurturing global citizens by operating intensive Korean language education, bilingual education, and global curricula through the establishment of the (tentatively named) Gyeonggi Ansan No.1 School.

Afterwards, Superintendent Lim attended the completion ceremony for the Green Smart School space restructuring project at Ansan Wongok Elementary School, where he closely examined the newly created educational environment. Ansan Wongok Elementary School has the highest proportion of multicultural students in the province, at 90%.

In his congratulatory remarks at the ceremony, Superintendent Lim said, "Listening to the introduction of the school today, the words 'difference' and 'harmony' stood out to me the most. In other words, it is about 'diversity' and 'coexistence,' and I believe that for Korea to develop, we must learn together about things that are different from each other."

He continued, "I believe that Korea can grow only if students from diverse cultural backgrounds learn together while maintaining their differences, and if relationships are fostered where they can mingle, help, and learn from each other."

Meanwhile, after the ceremony, Superintendent Lim participated in a commemorative tree planting event with Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun, planting a Bansong pine tree and wishing for a future where multicultural and general students can take root and flourish together.