Do Seong-hun, superintendent of the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education, has come out firmly against the government's push to overhaul the local education finance grants system, urging the government and the National Assembly to restart discussions from scratch.
Do attended the 109th General Assembly of the Korean Council of Superintendents of Education, held Thursday at Sonokcam in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, where he raised concerns about the government's proposed education finance reform and discussed ways to secure stable funding that reflects the realities of the classroom.
Do pushed back strongly against the argument that education budgets should be cut because the school-age population is shrinking. "Simply reducing education budgets because student numbers have fallen is not a matter of fiscal adjustment — it is stripping our children of their right to education and their future potential," he said.
He went on to say that essential spending demands in schools are in fact rising sharply, citing higher personnel costs, the need to build digital and future-education infrastructure, and the need to ease overcrowding in classrooms in new towns. "We cannot accept any reform that shakes the foundations of education finance without sufficient consensus or prior consultation with those working in schools," he said.
Do then called on the government and the National Assembly to "take a hard look at the realities on the ground and reopen discussions on the current local education finance grants reform plan from the very beginning."
Beyond the education finance issue, the general assembly also took up five other major challenges facing metropolitan and provincial offices of education across the country.
Key agenda items included amendments to the school violence prevention law to normalize its application to sexual violence cases and revisions to the hagwon regulation law; the rationalization of special education teacher placement standards and improvements to overtime pay rules for staff on overseas official travel; and the establishment of a NEIS-linked system to improve the efficiency of school violence case processing.
"We will work closely with education offices nationwide to bring about institutional improvements so that every student can learn in a safe environment," Do said.
gilbert@heraldcorp.com
