Korean Party Announces General Election Education Pledge: "Prevent Abolition of Autonomous Private High Schools, Expand Regular Admissions"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] The Liberty Korea Party announced its April 15 general election pledges on the 17th, focusing on preventing the abolition of autonomous private high schools (Jasago) and specialized high schools, and expanding the college entrance exam (Suneung) regular admissions. They also pledged to exclude teachers who compromise political neutrality from classrooms to prevent schools from becoming political or election battlegrounds.

The Liberty Korea Party's "2020 Hope Pledge Development Team with the People" announced these education pledges in the afternoon of the same day.

The party criticized the Moon Jae-in administration's education policies, stating, "It has been revealed that ideologically biased personnel and children of high-ranking government officials have been sent to specialized high schools or Jasago, yet this administration is enforcing uniform education with a double standard by aiming to abolish Jasago, foreign language high schools, and international high schools." They also expressed concern that "with the voting age lowered to 18, schools could become election battlegrounds, leading to great confusion."

First, the Liberty Korea Party pledged to protect school spaces as "sanctuaries of study." To this end, they proposed ▲introducing a transfer petition right allowing students and parents to request transfers to the superintendent if biased political ideology is taught at school, ▲establishing grounds to strengthen disciplinary actions against teachers who violate political neutrality and exclude them from classrooms, and ▲banning candidates or election campaigners from conducting official election campaigns within schools, as well as prohibiting students from campaigning during regular class hours. They also pledged to actively promote school system reforms.

They vowed to block the Moon administration's policy to abolish Jasago, foreign language high schools, and international high schools. The party stated, "Designations can only be revoked in cases of accounting fraud or admission irregularities," and pledged to "focus on nurturing prestigious regional high schools and dormitory-type public schools, and strengthen budget support for general high schools' academic improvement programs to upgrade their competitiveness to the level of Jasago, thereby enhancing the quality of education."

Additionally, they pledged to establish a separate "Education Power Committee" in the 21st National Assembly to propose reform measures that revive public education in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution through national consensus involving parents and teachers.

Furthermore, they promised to expand the budget of the Korea Student Aid Foundation to fully extend national scholarships to all university students from families with three or more children, regardless of income level. They also pledged to legally stipulate matters related to admissions procedures currently defined in enforcement ordinances, and to significantly increase the proportion of admissions through the college scholastic ability test in general admissions.

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