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| ▲ Global Cyber University Chancellor Lee Seung-hun | ||
Global Cyber University Chancellor Lee Seung-hun received José Simeón Cañas, the top prize given by the El Salvador government, on September 12, local time, from El Salvador Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Alfredo Castaneda. After receiving the prize, Lee had a time to talk with El Salvador President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.
Lee, in cooperation with the IBREA Foundation, a consultative status organization of the UN-ECOSOC, contributed to spreading Korean brain education programs to public schools in El Salvador. Experiencing its effect on improving mental and body health, 500 local teachers recommended Lee to the El Salvador government for the honorary prize. El Salvador is recorded as one of the worst countries in the world owing to its civil war, poverty and high violence and suicide rates.
Lee said "I recited Prayer of Peace at the UN Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000. But I didn't just recite the prayer as I was determined myself to come back to the UN again with the tools and methods of implementing the Prayer of Peace.
And the tool is but 'brain education'. El Salvador has brought changes to students, teachers, school parents and societies through this brain education. Brain education drew a positive change in terms of peace and culture and I would like to show my gratitude to more than 2,000 teachers who are implementing this brain education in El Salvador.
Brain Education is a combination of Korean spirit and the brain as a future asset for 21st century; it is built based on Korean humanitarianism and experience-driven pedagogy. I hope everybody can find a great value of our brain and create something brilliant."
Prior to the awarding, Lee gave a special lecture on brain education for 200 local educational officials, principals and teachers of school and on 13th was invited to a live interview at a morning program of a local TV.
According to a report in the first half of the year 2017, about 12,000 students gave up school due to drugs, violence and murder in El Salvador. To change the situation, El Salvador UN Ambassador attended the brain education conference held at the UN Headquarters with desperateness. After hearing the presentations of successful cases, the ambassador asked support of the brain education programs through the UN.
The IBREA took the initiative first for a test school followed by the Korean Education Ministry and Global Cyber University's support to draw 4 more schools. El Salvador Education Ministry then carried on the brain education training to 180 principals and teachers of local schools nationwide and started to include the programs in the national curriculum. As a result, the spread of the brain education between 2011 and 2018 has dramatically changed teachers, students, school parents and local communities.
Despite sweltering classroom conditions due to no air-conditioning at all, students paid a great attention to brain exercise and meditation. After a certain amount of time, students started to open their bundle of story that contains their hope and dream; less and less students became involved in violence but exercise instead.
Troublemakers engaged in traffic safety campaign alongside police officers and some students quit the drugs and the lowest rated school made a miracle by winning the top prize at the national math contest. A notorious school swarmed with gangs and guns saw a significant shift to communication, friendship and improved academic performance while the frequency of drug abuse and violence declined sharply.
Witnessing these dramatic changes, El Salvador government pushed forward training industry specialists and brain education consulting. In 2013, brain education spread nationwide rapidly thanks to the financial and administrative support and a report showed the program affected 1,341 schools (about 25% of public schools) positively in 2017.
As of October 2018, 1,800 schools are being benefited from brain education and 2,357 specialists who have passed the IBREA brain training course are promoting the programs by making the most of their network.
According to El Salvador government, the brain education helps students ease stress, raise concentration and promote creativity not to mention mental and body health. It also positively affected local communities.
More specifically, the brain education has 1) reduced obesity rate 2) reduced cholesterol 3) reduced neutral fat 4) reduced glucose 5) prevented surgery 6) improved symptoms of chronic diseases 7) improved atmosphere of school 8) reduced emotional fatigue 9) increased a sense of achievement 10) reduced frequency of violence 11) reduced conflict between students and parents 12) raised gender equality in El Salvador.
A survey also shows that the completion rate of the training on 79 public school teachers recorded 93.7% with the satisfaction rate of education 4.9 out of 5 which is near perfect.
Currently, the IBREA is spreading brain education to the US, UK, Japan, China, Russia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Korea as well as El Salvador, Liberia and the Philippines through the UN.
It is notable that the General Court of Santa Fe, US, approved brain education in the public education in 2017 while New York introduced Brain Education Day in 2009 and is spreading the programs to 1,800 schools. The US government also declared Brain Education Day for 26 cities including NY and Washington DC.
Japan, on the other hand, is applying the brain education to men and women of all age groups with particular attention to prevention of dementia among elderly people.
Lee said "The brain education is consisted of 360 programs and their applications cover vast areas from brain health and self-development to school education and health of senior members of the society. All individual programs are consisted of level 1 to 5" adding that "Global Cyber University will keep doing its best to spread the excellence of brain education to the world and make contributions to promoting peace and health of the global citizens."
백종원 기자 bridgekorea@naver.com
