North Gyeongsang education official wins presidential commendation for proactive administration

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education announced Monday that Kim Cheol-woo, an administrative officer in its general affairs division, became the first official from a provincial or metropolitan office of education to receive a presidential commendation at the 6th Proactive Administration Merit Awards, organized by the Ministry of Personnel Management.

The awards, established in 2021 by the Ministry of Personnel Management, recognize civil servants who deliver tangible results for the public through proactive and creative work.

Kim, while working in the audit division, questioned why schools were bearing the electricity costs for mobile communications relay equipment installed on their premises and launched a thorough investigation into the practice.

He then conducted a comprehensive survey of schools across the province and held sustained negotiations with the country's three major mobile carriers, ultimately clarifying which party should bear those costs and reforming the existing burden-sharing structure.

As a result, about 300 million won ($199,000) in electricity costs that schools had paid over the previous five years was recovered retroactively. The longstanding irrational cost-sharing arrangement was also corrected, strengthening the soundness of education finances.

The case was also shared with the Ministry of Education, other provincial and metropolitan offices of education, and public institutions nationwide. If the reformed system spreads across the country, budget savings of more than 10 billion won are expected, and the case has been recognized as a model example.

Im Jong-sik, superintendent of the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education, said the award was "a model case of a public official carefully examining problems on the ground and proactively correcting an irrational structure that could easily have been overlooked as routine practice."