Cheonjae Textbook and Visang Education Reassign Staff
Woongjin ThinkBig Ultimately Decides to Withdraw from the Business
Publishers that had embarked on developing AI digital textbooks have reportedly decided to reduce their workforce or even abandon the project this year due to policy changes by the Ministry of Education.
According to the education industry on the 25th, Cheonjae Textbook, a subsidiary of Cheonjae Education, is currently reviewing internal staff restructuring. They are discussing downsizing the 'Milk Tea' division, which is their digital workbook business unit. A representative stated, "The full-scale introduction schedule of AI textbooks has been disrupted, resulting in massive investments turning into losses," adding, "We are inevitably discussing downsizing the Milk Tea division and optimizing personnel."
An anonymous post on the workplace community Blind claimed that "Cheonjae Education is conducting large-scale recommended layoffs of over 700 employees." However, a Cheonjae Education official denied this, saying, "That is not true," and "The number of personnel has not even been mentioned internally."
Earlier, confusion continued as a bill passed in the National Assembly downgraded AI textbooks to 'educational materials.' Although the bill was returned to the National Assembly through a veto, the Ministry of Education changed its policy this year to allow schools to 'choose autonomously' whether to adopt AI textbooks. The adoption rate of AI textbooks by city and provincial education offices nationwide is around 33% this year. From the perspective of publishers who had developed and invested based on the premise of 'mandatory use,' it is a situation where they cannot achieve the expected results.
Visang Education has also reorganized its AI textbook-related business units. They downsized the 'Only One' division, a smart learning brand for elementary and middle school students, and partially reassigned AI textbook personnel to other divisions.
Woongjin ThinkBig, which failed to pass the AI textbook certification review, ultimately decided to withdraw from the business. A Woongjin ThinkBig official explained, "Due to ongoing policy uncertainty and an unstable environment related to AI textbooks, we decided to withdraw from the business," adding, "Some personnel from the responsible headquarters were reassigned, and some left the company by mutual agreement."
AI textbook publishers had expressed concerns about this situation during a joint press conference in January. They stated, "If AI textbooks lose their legal status as textbooks and are downgraded to educational materials, publishers and edutech companies will face difficulties not only in recovering development costs but also in maintaining personnel, leading to serious employment retention issues."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
