The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) is launching a public call to designate and convert around three high schools, from among those in seven regions that have no gifted school, into science gifted schools affiliated with institutes of science and technology. Applications will be accepted from August 7 to October 16, with the target opening date set for March 2029.
 [코리안투데이] Materials related to the public call for the designation and conversion of science gifted schools affiliated with institutes of science and technology © 장형임 기자 |
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on August 7 that it is launching the 「Public Call for the Designation and Conversion of Gifted Schools Affiliated with Institutes of Science and Technology」, so that local talent can deepen their interest in mathematics and science by drawing on the education and research capabilities of the institutes of science and technology and grow into talent who will lead the future.
The regions targeted by this call are the seven areas without a gifted school: Gangwon, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Ulsan, Jeonbuk, Jeju, and Chungnam. Taking into account balanced regional development and the decline in the school-age population, the ministry plans to select around three existing high schools in these regions through an evaluation process and convert them into gifted schools. To this end, the ministry held four rounds of consultations and discussions with the local governments and education offices of the target regions from April to July this year.
Gifted schools are educational institutions designated and established under the 「Act on the Promotion of Education for the Gifted」. Unlike ordinary schools under the 「Elementary and Secondary Education Act」, they enjoy broad autonomy in academic operations, including a non-grade system and self-directed curriculum organization. Eight gifted schools are currently in operation nationwide, and among them the only one affiliated with an institute of science and technology is the Korea Science Academy of KAIST, located in Busan. The Korea Science Academy has been recognized for its outstanding faculty and infrastructure—all of its mathematics and science teachers hold doctoral degrees—and for its achievements in developing students’ interest in and curiosity about mathematics and science by supporting university-level advanced education and research activities through its links with the institute of science and technology.
Regions wishing to take part in the call must form a consortium involving the education office (school), the local government, and an institute of science and technology. The consortium must jointly prepare a school operation plan covering the curriculum, school operating system, financial support, and facility construction, and submit an official application and other documents to the ministry between August 7 and October 16. Each metropolitan and provincial education office may recommend only one school per region after consultation with the region and school members. Participating consortiums apply jointly by matching with a nearby institute of science and technology: the southeastern region with UNIST, the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region with DGIST, the central region with KAIST, and the Honam region with GIST, while the three regions of Gangwon, Jeonbuk, and Jeju may match freely.
Schools that are designated and converted will identify the core competencies that future-leading talent must possess and design a curriculum and environment to match. They will run advanced education linked with the faculty of institutes of science and technology, creative research and education (R&E), and project-based learning (PBL), and will expand opportunities for experiments and hands-on practice using cutting-edge research facilities and equipment. The curriculum will also be designed so that, through research projects on region-specific industries and entrepreneurship education linked with local industry, academia, and research institutes, students can gain experience in exploring and solving real problems at the region’s research and industrial sites.
Through this, the ministry expects to realize a new science-gifted education model that combines the education and research infrastructure of institutes of science and technology with regional innovation capabilities, and to cultivate creative, convergence-oriented, problem-solving talent who will lead cutting-edge science and technology fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and aerospace.
As for the selection process, applicant schools will be evaluated in November on the commitment of regional members to converting to a gifted school as well as on school operations and curriculum, and around three schools will be selected. Final designation will follow around December after deliberation by the Central Gifted Education Promotion Committee of the Ministry of Education. The documents to be submitted include the designation and conversion application, the school operation plan, letters of commitment from participating institutions, a recommendation letter from the superintendent of education, and other supporting documents, and all documents must be submitted officially by the superintendent of education.
Ku Hyuk-chae, First Vice Minister of Science and ICT, said, ‘This conversion to gifted schools will not only strengthen the growth pathways for local talent, but will also serve as a starting point for our society to newly explore how to nurture future core talent while breaking away from exam-oriented education.’ He added, ‘We will actively support the education offices, local governments, and institutes of science and technology so that they can cooperate closely to build a new science-gifted education model that leads regional and national innovation.’
This call is significant in that it presents a future education model that fosters passion for mathematics and science while breaking away from exam-oriented education, and at the same time establishes local growth pathways for talent in seven regions that, lacking gifted schools, had seen outstanding talent flow out to the Seoul metropolitan area and elsewhere.
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