Conflict Including the Term 'Jayuminjuui'
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] Teachers' organizations have filed a complaint against Vice Minister of Education Jang Sang-yoon, claiming that the process of reviewing the 2022 revised curriculum was illegal.
The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (Jeon-gyo-jo) and the Practical Education Teachers' Association (Sil-gyo-mo) announced on the 7th that they reported Vice Minister Jang, who also serves as the chairman of the Curriculum Deliberation Committee's Steering Committee, to the Sejong Nambu Police Station on charges of abuse of authority, obstruction of rights, and dereliction of duty.
The practical teachers and Jeon-gyo-jo argued that on the 5th of this month, during the Curriculum Deliberation Committee Steering Committee meeting, Vice Minister Jang did not adopt the curriculum amendment proposals submitted by the steering committee members and refused to request a vote, thereby obstructing the exercise of voting rights.
Previously, during the curriculum revision process, the policy research team for middle school history and high school Korean history subjects used the term "democracy," but the Ministry of Education added the terms "liberal democracy" and "liberal democratic basic order" when drafting the administrative notice.
The conservative camp has argued that since the current constitution, established in 1987, mentions the "liberal democratic basic order," the term "liberal" should be included in history textbooks. Meanwhile, the progressive camp has emphasized that "democracy" is a more neutral term and that "liberal democracy" was equated with "anti-North Korea and anti-communism" during the authoritarian regime era.
Regarding expressions related to gender in social and health subjects, as well as labor education and ecological education, some policy researchers maintain positions that differ from the Ministry of Education's administrative notice draft.
Some members of the Curriculum Deliberation Committee Steering Committee proposed ten amendment proposals different from the Ministry of Education's administrative notice draft and requested a vote, but the Ministry of Education did not accept them.
The two organizations pointed out, "By abusing the authority to conduct meetings, the chairman obstructed the exercise of voting rights, which is a right of the steering committee," and added, "According to the committee regulations, the chairman, who has the authority to conduct meetings including the right to submit matters for resolution, neglected his duty by refusing the members' legitimate requests to proceed with the voting process without justifiable reasons."
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