"Need to Adjust the Pace of Teacher Reductions"
Jeong Geun-sik, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, announced on the 10th that he will work with the Ministry of Education to devise measures regarding the incident in Daejeon where an elementary school student was killed by a teacher.
On the morning of the 17th, Superintendent Jeong made this statement at an education policy meeting held with the Seoul branch of the Democratic Party of Korea in Yeouido, Seoul. He said, "We will strengthen management of staff who have difficulty performing their duties, support the psychological and emotional stability of students, parents, and staff, and focus our efforts on practical measures by collaborating with the Ministry of Education and the 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education on overall school safety policies."
He added, "We will do our best to alleviate concerns about schools as soon as possible."
At this meeting, major education policies and legislative proposals for Seoul were also discussed. Superintendent Jeong expressed difficulties caused by reductions in education funding and teacher cuts. He explained, "The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's budget has a high proportion of fixed costs such as personnel expenses, so in the current situation of reduced education funding, we had to partially reduce the education project and facility project budgets compared to the previous year and could not include everything in the 2025 budget. If the government does not provide financial support for free high school education, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will bear an additional annual cost of about 185 billion KRW every year."
He continued, "The education office fund, which was established to flexibly respond to unexpected changes in financial management conditions, has been significantly reduced, and about 330 billion KRW, nearly half of the Integrated Education Finance Stabilization Fund, was used last year. If the budget burden on the education office continues to increase, the fund may be depleted," he expressed concern.
Regarding teacher reductions, he advocated for a 'speed adjustment theory.' He emphasized, "The rate of teacher quota reduction is too rapid compared to the decline in the number of students, making stable educational activities at schools difficult. It is necessary to adjust the speed of teacher quota reduction so that schools can maintain high-quality education steadily even in a rapidly changing educational environment."
Additionally, the AI digital textbook, whose legal status has not yet been finalized, was also mentioned. Superintendent Jeong said, "There is confusion at schools due to controversy over the legal status of AI digital textbooks. I hope you will listen to the opinions of the educational community and work together to promote policies in the most desirable direction for the children."
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