Passage of Education and Safety Committee Amid Absence of Yeo
Opposition Party Expects Full Education Committee Meeting
Controversy Over Principals' Autonomous Adoption of 'AI Textbooks'
A bill defining AI (artificial intelligence) digital textbooks as educational materials has passed the agenda adjustment committee of the National Assembly's Education Committee, led by the opposition party.
On the night of the 27th, members of the Democratic Party of Korea and the Justice Innovation Party, who belong to the Education Committee's agenda adjustment committee, passed the partial amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act containing this content while members of the People Power Party walked out. The opposition party is expected to hold a full meeting of the Education Committee and push for the bill's approval in the future.
Earlier, on the 26th, when the Democratic Party tried to pass the amendment bill alone at the Education Committee's bill review subcommittee, ruling party members protested and left the meeting room. The Democratic Party planned to pass the bill at the full Education Committee meeting that day as well, but the People Power Party requested the formation of an agenda adjustment committee, delaying the passage. The agenda adjustment committee is a body for discussing agenda items that require reconciliation of differing opinions.
The ruling party emphasized the bill supporting the government's AI digital textbook policy, aiming for introduction next year, while the opposition party submitted a bill opposing it. The amendment bills, respectively proposed by Democratic Party members Go Min-jeong and Moon Jeong-bok, seek to define AI digital textbooks as "educational materials" rather than "textbooks for curriculum use," so that they can be introduced to school sites after social discussion on AI digital textbooks. Previously, the opposition party expressed the opinion that cautious introduction of AI digital textbooks is necessary.
Therefore, if the amendment bill passes through the Education Committee, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and the plenary session, it is expected to put a brake on the government's AI digital textbook policy promotion. Since educational materials are not textbooks that must be compulsorily selected by each school, the school principal's autonomous choice becomes possible.
In response, companies that participated in the review of AI digital textbook publishers and the Korea Textbook Association expressed opposition to the bill proposed by the opposition party ahead of the bill subcommittee. This is because if AI digital textbooks are not recognized as textbooks for curriculum use, publishers may suffer losses in textbook production and operation. They argued that "AI digital textbooks should maintain the status of textbooks for curriculum use."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
