All local governments in North Chungcheong Province take on the challenge of contesting educational innovation leading regions.

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Jae-cheon = All local governments in North Chungcheong Province join hands with education authorities to challenge the competition for leading educational innovation regions.

According to the Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education on the 16th, the Education Innovation Leading Region is a public contest project by the Ministry of Education in which universities, industries, related organizations, and civic groups, centered on the Office of Education, local governments, and education support offices, collaborate to create an education innovation model suited to local conditions and create a quality education ecosystem.

The competition will be divided into two types: Type 1, which promotes the establishment of a quality education ecosystem and innovation in small schools targeting areas with declining populations, and Type 2, which promotes alleviation of educational gaps within the region and strengthening university-industry linkage education for basic local governments in non-metropolitan areas.

Jecheon-si, Boeun-gun, Okcheon-gun, Yeongdong-gun, Goesan-gun, and Danyang-gun will apply for Type 1, while Cheongju-si, Chungju-si, Jeungpyeong-gun, Jincheon-gun, and Eumseong-gun will apply for Type 2.

The Ministry of Education will receive the education innovation leading region operation plan jointly signed by the Superintendent of Education, mayor/county governor, and superintendent of education by the end of this month, and after review, will select 40 regions (30 Type 1 and 10 Type 2) by the end of November.

Selected regions will receive support of 2 billion won per year, or up to 10 billion won over 5 years.

In North Chungcheong Province, cities and counties and city and county offices of education signed an agreement and completed the formation of a regional education innovation council.

In order to systematically support these regions, the provincial office of education also formed a consulting group of 10 people, including university professors, researchers at the Korea Educational Development Institute, and curriculum experts.

The agreement between Superintendent Yoon Geon-young and mayors and county governors, the final step in applying for designation as an educational innovation leader region, will be held in Jincheon this afternoon.

Superintendent Yoon said, “We will work with 11 cities and counties to create an educational innovation model that takes advantage of the characteristics of each region and actively support all regions in North Chungcheong Province to be selected as leading regions for educational innovation.”