From Tuesday, May 19th to Friday, May 22nd, the World Education Form 2015 (WEF) was held in Songdo-Convensia, in Incheon, in Republic of Korea. It is one of the International festival leaded by UNESCO, in collaboration with six co-conveners which are UNICEF, UN Women, World Bank Group etc. in order to build a powerful new education agenda. In 2014, it was also held in Bangkok, in Thailand and in Lima, in Peru.
The World Education Forum consists of five key themes according to the UNESCO website. First is Right to Education which aimed that education is fundamental human right and the primary vehicle that can lift out marginalized children, young people and adults out of poverty to participate fully in communities and society. Second is Equity in Education which means to achieve equality. It intends to provide the best opportunities for all students and to address instances of disadvantage. Third is Inclusive Education which not only responds and adapts to each learner’s needs, but is relevant to their society and respectful of culture. Fourth is Quality Education which is provided by trained and supported teachers, the right of all children, not of the few. The last one is Lifelong Learning which is that every person, at every stage of life should have lifelong learning opportunities to fulfill his aspiration and contribute to his society.
The World Education Forum 2015 in Songdo provided programs for middle and high school students such as career consultation or experience and it showed the classrooms in the future by screen. All the delegates of the world including President Park Geun-Hye and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon participated in this meaningful festival to discuss about Korean education system and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning all by 2030 and discussed through interesting issues resulting recommendation of participant’s good analysis. For example, Andreas Schleicher, the OECD Director for Education and Skills said we need to develop many various personalities like curiosity, courageousness, leadership or consideration. I agree with his opinion. Even if a student is very smart and has high grades, if he is arrogant and selfish, he can’t succeed. To succeed, he has to be responsible and considerate so that other people will follow and believe in him. For another example, Chi Young-Suk, the president of Elsevier said that students can learn in a happy environment by providing various choices to teachers and students. Then we can find out what the students wand and make them study with passion. I also agree with him. Education is not only sitting on the desk and studying specific subjects like English or Math. It should improve each student’s skills and interests.
The reason why Korea became a developed country is education. Many undeveloped countries want to follow the education curriculum of Korea which is second after Finland among top 20 countries in education over the world. On the other hand, besides advantages, Korea also has drawbacks. According to the survey of children’s happiness index, Korea doesn’t reach the average of OECD countries. Also, according to the data from Statistics Korea of 2013, Korea has the highest teenagers’ suicide rate among the OECD countries.
In reality, as we can’t compel turtle to go faster than rabbit or bear to fly, we also shouldn’t compel students to be good at everything and require perfection. Growing children is like growing trees. But most of them in Korea don’t have dream or hope because of uniformed and oppressed education system. Not ranking first or second, they need to make their own life with their dreams. So the country must make an environment which can let children to have their own dream and hope.