Seoul Metropolitan Council: "We Will Restore Collapsed School Authority"

Seoul Metropolitan Council: "We Will Restore Collapsed Educational Authority"

Kim Hyun-gi, Chairperson of Seoul Metropolitan Council: "We Will Use the Seo-i Elementary School Incident as an Opportunity to Undertake Fundamental Institutional Reforms in Seoul Education, Including the Student Human Rights Ordinance"

A tragic incident occurred at Seo-i Elementary School in Seoul, where a young teacher passed away.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council (Chairperson Kim Hyun-gi) expressed its deepest condolences to the bereaved family and the teachers at the school.

The Council stated that it is watching this incident with grave concern and will hold an emergency Education Committee meeting on the morning of the 27th, summoning Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon.

Additionally, the Council will receive a full report on the incident from the relevant officials at the Gangnam and Seocho Education Support Offices and other responsible public officials at the school site to clearly identify and review the problems.

Chairperson Kim said, "Tragic incidents continue to occur in the education field. The Council will resolutely undertake fundamental institutional reforms in Seoul education."

He added that all systems of Seoul education, including the Student Human Rights Ordinance, will be reexamined from the ground up to find the root causes, revive public education, and restore the collapsed educational authority with unwavering and bold measures.

Kim also stated, "The Council has, in accordance with the will of the citizens, formed the Seoul Education Academic Improvement Special Committee and has been active for over a year. We have clearly identified the problems in Seoul education."

"Accordingly, to guarantee the basic rights of students, such as foundational academic skills, we have enacted the Basic Academic Skills Ordinance and are currently developing assessment tools for literacy and numeracy with a budget of 3 billion KRW," he explained.

The Council pledged to work with citizens to identify what the problems are and what needs to be improved, using this incident as a turning point.

Chairperson Kim said, "Seoul citizens have strongly demanded a major overhaul of Seoul education, as public education under the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been evaluated as having collapsed miserably over the past decade."

"The Seoul Metropolitan Council will exercise all its authority to boldly excise the afflicted parts of Seoul education," he declared.

He also promised that the Council will respond firmly and thoroughly to the silent cry sent by the young teacher who passed away in her twenties and will engage in the frontline of correcting education with the spirit of a warrior.