Seoul Energy Corp. signed an MOU with Hyosung Heavy Industries, the Gangseo Career and Vocational Experience Support Center, and the Gangseo-Yangcheon Environmental Movement Union to foster carbon neutrality values and energy citizenship through hands-on early education for children.
As carbon neutrality and the energy transition have emerged as national priorities, improving future generations' understanding of and awareness about energy has become increasingly important.
Yet opportunities to learn how energy is produced and supplied remain scarce. Values and lifestyle habits formed in early childhood tend to last a lifetime, making hands-on early education that instills a sound understanding of energy and the environment all the more critical.
Seoul Energy Corp. (president Hwang Bo-yeon) signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday at its headquarters with Hyosung Heavy Industries, the Gangseo Career and Vocational Experience Support Center, and the Gangseo-Yangcheon Environmental Movement Union to operate a traveling energy experience school aimed at realizing ESG values and nurturing future energy talent.
Under the agreement, Seoul Energy Corp. will run a hands-on energy education program that visits schools directly, expanding educational opportunities and helping the next generation develop sound energy values.
The signing ceremony was attended by Jang Young-min, head of the planning and management division at Seoul Energy Corp.; Yang Tae-hyeon, executive director at Hyosung Heavy Industries; Lee Chun-hye, director of the Gangseo Career and Vocational Experience Support Center; and Seon Sang-gyu, chairman of the Gangseo-Yangcheon Environmental Movement Union. The participants reaffirmed their commitment to promoting energy education for future generations.
The MOU is significant as a community cooperation model in which a public institution, a private company, an educational organization, and a civic group jointly advance energy education for the next generation. The participating organizations plan to collaborate on hands-on education and educational donation activities covering future energy industries — including district energy, hydrogen, and solar power — with the goals of spreading ESG values and nurturing future energy talent.
The traveling energy experience school operating under the agreement is a hands-on education program that visits elementary schools directly. It presents energy concepts — which children may find difficult — through play and experiential activities in an escape-room game format. The curriculum will focus on three areas: how energy is produced and used, the meaning of carbon neutrality, and building an understanding of future energy industries.
Through a pilot program last year, Seoul Energy Corp. confirmed that letting children see, create, and experience energy firsthand is effective in improving energy awareness. This year, the corporation plans to expand the number of participating organizations and upgrade its educational content to provide quality energy education to more children.
"Energy is essential infrastructure that sustains our lives, yet social awareness of its value and importance is still insufficient," Jang said at the ceremony. "Supporting future generations in learning and internalizing the right values about energy and the environment from an early age is the first step toward building a sustainable energy society."
Seoul Energy Corp. said the MOU goes beyond simply running an education program — it represents a community cooperation model in which a public institution, a company, an educational organization, and civil society jointly raise the next generation. The corporation said it plans to work closely with its partner organizations to help more children develop a sound understanding of energy and grow into future energy talent.
In last year's pilot, which targeted fourth-grade elementary school students within the corporation's district heating service area, 62 of the 65 students (95 percent) who said before the program that they did not understand energy facilities in daily life said they had come to understand them afterward — a result that demonstrated a clear improvement in awareness.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
