Administrative and Educational Leadership Mobilize for 'Breaking Walls' Initiative…Superintendent An Min-seok: "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child"
The Gyeonggi Province Office of Education (Superintendent An Min-seok) held a 'Breaking Walls' memorandum of understanding ceremony on the 9th at Osan Wondong Elementary School, attended by the regional education office and municipal government, and agreed to jointly promote educational cooperation that transcends the boundaries between educational administration and general administration.
This agreement was established to connect policies, budgets, facilities, and human resources distributed across the education office and municipal government centered on students' learning and growth, and to jointly address regional educational issues.
The signatories to the agreement—the regional education office and municipal government—shared the 'Gyeonggi Education Wall-Breaking Vision' and expressed their commitment to regional joint implementation through signing the memorandum of understanding.
The signatory organizations will pursue five major common projects: △promoting Phone-Free culture △activating RAS (Reading·Arts·Sports) character education △sharing school and regional infrastructure and operating Wall-Breaking Cooperation Offices △doubling educational budgets and jointly realizing educational autonomy △cooperating on Gyeonggi Golden Plan (GGP) school complex facilities.
Additionally, the regional education office and municipal government will select five specialized projects reflecting regional conditions and educational issues, establish implementation plans with roles, budgets, schedules, and performance indicators, and jointly promote them.
In particular, the newly established Wall-Breaking Cooperation Office will be responsible for identifying demands from the educational field, connecting related departments, organizations, and resources, and reflecting excellent cases from the region and field opinions in policy.
After concluding the agreement, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education plans to activate task-specific working groups to establish regional implementation plans by the end of 2026. From 2027 onwards, it will formally implement the agreement projects, and plans to expand successful cases throughout the province through implementation monitoring and field feedback.
Governor Choo Mi-ae stated in her remarks, "Today's Wall-Breaking Ceremony is the first in the history of educational administration," and added, "I can sense the aspiration to create standards that will lead the nation." She continued, "We will work hard to overcome Gyeonggi Province's financial situation so that the Superintendent of Education's compelling proposals can be well implemented."
Minister of Education Choi Gyo-jin stated, "Although various walls exist between the education office and municipal government, there are no walls in children's lives and learning," and continued, "I am confident that Gyeonggi Province's 'Wall-Breaking,' which has the largest student population, will become a model for educational cooperation in our nation." He added, "The Ministry of Education will continue to communicate with the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education and spare no effort in policy support."
In his welcoming remarks, Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education An Min-seok said, "It takes a village to raise a child," and continued, "The Wall-Breaking ceremony will become a new milestone in breaking down the walls between educational administration and general administration not only in Gyeonggi Province but throughout the Republic of Korea."
Superintendent An further stated, "I propose the 'Gyeonggi Golden Plan (GGP)' to construct 100 school complex facilities over 10 years at a rate of one per 100,000 residents, with schools providing land and municipal governments providing budgets for use by students and local residents alike," and emphasized, "Let us work hand in hand with schools and communities to break down the walls."