Gwangju JeonGyoJo Urges City Office of Education and Ministry of Education to Scrap AI Textbooks

98.5% of Teachers Say "Smooth Use Impossible"

The Gwangju branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) welcomed the passage of a bill by the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 17th, which designates AI digital textbooks as educational materials. At the same time, they called for the abolition of the AI textbook policy being promoted by the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education.

In a press release issued on the same day, the Gwangju branch of the KTU stated, "This amendment is a revision of the law that meets the demands of the school field," and urged, "We call on the National Assembly to promptly pass the bill in the plenary session."

They argued, "The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education ignored the opposition from teachers and parents in the field, as shown in multiple surveys and signature campaigns, and unilaterally invested a large budget to build infrastructure for the policy in compliance with the Ministry of Education."

Lee Juho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, is speaking at the plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held at the National Assembly on the 17th. On this day, the committee passed the amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which defines AI textbooks as "educational materials" rather than "textbooks," solely by the opposition party. Yonhap News

They continued, "At the National Assembly audit of the Office of Education last October, Superintendent Lee Jeongseon responded that 'we will ensure the establishment of AI digital textbooks,'" pointing out, "This is an abdication of the responsibility of local educational autonomy."

They added, "Even now, we hope the Metropolitan Office of Education will immediately halt the AI digital textbook policy, take full responsibility for local educational autonomy, listen to the voices of the school field, and take the lead in ensuring the autonomy of the educational field."

Previously, the KTU had released the results of a survey conducted from the 10th to the 16th on 2,626 teachers. According to the survey, 98.5% of the responding teachers said that it would be virtually impossible to use AI digital textbooks smoothly in all schools next year. In addition, in the case of elementary schools, there was a high level of opinion that AI digital textbooks are not suitable for children's developmental stages.

Meanwhile, the bill passed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is expected to be dealt with at the National Assembly plenary session on the 30th.