Civic Group Urges Gwangju Office of Education to Halt Overseas Study Tours with Leisure Focus

A civic group in the Gwangju area has called for the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education to halt overseas training for teachers.

The Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Elitism issued a statement on the 19th, saying, "The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education should conduct a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of overseas training for teachers, as it costs nearly hundreds of millions of won of taxpayers' money."

The group stated, "According to the '2023 Overseas Training Service Task Directive for Life Education Teachers' announced by the Gwangju Western Office of Education, a total of 77 people, including 70 elementary and secondary school teachers and 7 supervisors, plan to visit two Southeast Asian countries, Singapore and Malaysia, for a 4-night, 6-day schedule in July," adding, "The Eastern Office of Education also plans to send 31 teachers to Singapore around the same time."

They continued, "The stated purposes of the overseas training by these education offices are to 'establish directions for student life education,' 'enhance teachers' professionalism,' and 'cultivate an international perspective,' aiming to establish viewpoints on student life education through cultural exploration," but emphasized, "Looking at their detailed itineraries, most of the schedule consists of typical tourist courses offered by general travel agencies, such as Merlion Park, Sentosa Island, and Bugis traditional market, which are mostly unrelated to the training objectives, costing about 270 million won in budget."

They also pointed out, "Despite being criticized in a comprehensive audit conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2011 to 'restrain overseas trips that are not closely related to duties and not to use the budget for purposes other than intended,' the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education revived overseas training in 2019, evading the Ministry of Education's scrutiny."

A representative of the group said, "We demand that the training be operated as an opportunity for teachers who quietly work in schools to explore advanced educational sites and practically implement what they learn in schools."