[New Year's Address] Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Eun-hye: "Reforming Education and Social Systems through Fairness, Inclusion, and Innovation"

Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye is announcing the 'Measures to Strengthen Fairness in the College Admission System' on the 28th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye (photo) has decided to focus on institutional reforms across society, including education, this year in three directions: fairness, inclusion, and innovation.

In her New Year's address on the 2nd, Deputy Prime Minister Yoo said, "If last year was a year focused on enhancing the public nature and trust of education, this year is the time to clearly show changes that the public can feel."

First, she decided to improve unequal and unfair social systems to realize the value of fairness. Yoo emphasized, "It is absolutely unacceptable that parental power is effectively inherited by children through certain systems, and that our children and youth who witness this become despondent and distrust the Korean social system itself."

If there are privileges, unfair advantages, or possibilities of external interference, bold improvements will be made, and mid- to long-term legal and institutional reforms will be pursued to ensure that these do not end as temporary measures.

Social system reforms will be carried out with the goal of guaranteeing basic living for all citizens. She stressed that a more robust social safety net will be established for low-income and emergency crisis households, and special attention will be paid to eliminating blind spots in areas directly related to human dignity such as education, housing, and healthcare.

To guarantee citizens' basic living, the state’s responsibility will be further strengthened in areas of care, learning, labor, old age, environment, and safety.

Along with this, investment in talent development, the foundation of innovation, will be expanded, and the connection between work, learning, and life for the public will be strengthened.

To this end, through the 'Saramtuja Injaeyangseong Hyupuihoe' (Human Investment Talent Development Council), plans and progress for innovative talent development by each ministry will be coordinated to promote effective talent cultivation, and focused training on new technologies will also begin.

Additionally, the education system will be innovated to effectively link the entire process of university education, lifelong education, and vocational training so that even without a degree, people can receive education at their desired time and have their qualifications recognized.

Furthermore, to ensure that the 'people-centered social policy' does not remain a declaration but is implemented as short- and mid- to long-term policies, the role of the Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs will be strengthened to lead effective policy linkage among social ministries, active collaboration, and expanded investment in social policies.

Moreover, she requested the National Assembly’s interest and support to launch the 'National Education Commission' to establish mid- to long-term education policies and proactively prepare for the future education system.

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo promised, "The Ministry of Education will always thoughtfully consider whether even a single policy changes the lives of the people and contributes to the happiness of our children, and will work by finding answers on the ground and communicating."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.