"Breaking Through Island Village Limitations": Wando County Selected as an Education Innovation Leading Region

Selected as a Type 1 Region After Competing with 130 Others; Secures 3 Years of Support
Launches "Wando Blue Education," Linking Marine and Ecological Resources
Yoon Yangseok: "We Will Do Our Best to Ensure Equal Learning Opportunities"

Wando County in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City will receive national-level support to overcome the challenges facing small island schools amid population decline and build an education ecosystem tailored to the region.

The Wando Office of Education Support announced on November 3 that Wando County had been selected as a Type 1 region under the Ministry of Education's 2027 Education Innovation Leading Regions initiative.

Exterior view of the Wando Office of Education Support.

A total of 130 regions across the country applied for the program, and 43 were selected after a rigorous evaluation. Type 1, which includes Wando County, is a program that builds local education ecosystems by promoting innovation at small schools in areas facing population decline and other challenges. A total of 32 regions nationwide were selected.

The Wando Office of Education Support and Wando County are launching the "Wando Blue Education" initiative under the vision "Small Schools Embraced by the Sea, Glocal Wando Education Connecting the Islands." The initiative aims to broaden educational opportunities at small schools by linking Wando's abundant marine, ecological, historical, and industrial resources to students' learning and future career paths.

The central operating model for the initiative is the "Wando Sea Campus." It will closely connect educational resources across the county, including the living areas of its 12 towns and townships and school clusters in 4 regions, expanding opportunities for broader learning that individual schools could not provide on their own. The county also plans to strengthen student-focused support and care within each living area.

An official from the Office of Education Support said, "This achievement was made possible by the strong network of cooperation within the local community. In addition to joint preparations by the Office of Education Support and Wando County, local National Assembly member Park Jiwon, Wando County Governor Kim Shin, Wando County Council Chair Choi Jeonguk, Wando Superintendent of Education Yoon Yangseok, and other representatives of the local government, county council, and educational institutions all made the development of Wando education a shared priority and provided their full support. This helped earn the initiative a positive evaluation."

Annual project budgets will be adjusted to reflect the final amount of support and local government budget allocations. Support will initially be provided for 3 years, with a 2-year extension to be decided after a subsequent evaluation.

Superintendent of Education Yoon Yangseok said, "This result recognizes our determination to overcome, together as a county, the challenges faced by small schools scattered across the islands. We will do our utmost, together with Wando County, to ensure that students on every island have the same learning opportunities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.