The National Assembly's Education Committee conducted a government audit of four education offices: Jeonnam, Gwangju, Jeju, and Jeonbuk.
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] The National Assembly Education Committee's audit of institutions such as metropolitan and provincial offices of education ended in a superficial manner, drawing criticism.
On the 20th, the National Assembly Education Committee conducted a national audit at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, covering four offices of education: Jeonnam, Gwangju, Jeju, and Jeonbuk. In addition, audits of six institutions, including Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Jeju Universities and university hospitals, were conducted simultaneously.
The audit committee consisted of eight lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, including Audit Team Leader Yoo Ki-hong, while those audited included Jeonnam Superintendent of Education Jang Seok-woong, as well as superintendents and department heads from Gwangju, Jeju, and Jeonbuk.
The audit was criticized for lacking alternative measures to address issues, and because audits of ten institutions were conducted all at once in a single day, important audit matters that needed to be addressed were overshadowed, leaving much to be desired.
In particular, lawmakers drew criticism for completely passing over this year's biggest issues, such as the sexual assault and death incident at the dormitory in Yeonggwang, Jeonnam, and the Wando exam paper leak, without even mentioning them. Furthermore, rather than questioning or criticizing the institutions, the audit proceeded with nothing but praise, undermining the purpose of the national audit.
The Education Committee focused heavily on audits of universities and university hospitals, hastily wrapping up the audits of the four offices of education in just a few hours, raising concerns that the audits were merely formalities.
A local education official in Jeonnam stated, “This national audit passed over the actual problems of the offices of education, such as school violence that occurred in Yeonggwang and the leak of English teacher exam papers in Wando, without addressing them at all, which was very disappointing.”
He added, “The national audit, which should carefully inspect and evaluate policies, felt like a formal audit that failed to properly analyze regional issues.”
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