Protecting Student Voter Rights through 'Chamjeonggwon Education'

Establishment of Early Response Hotline for Preemptive Prevention of Public Official Election Law Violations

Gyeongnam Office of Education Building Exterior

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kang Sharon] The Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education announced on the 9th that it will officially implement suffrage education, which includes protecting the rights of 18-year-old student voters and operating election education at individual schools, following the revision of the 'Public Official Election Act.'

According to the revised 'Public Official Election Act,' from the 21st National Assembly election held in April, about 9,600 enrolled students in the province will be able to exercise their voting rights.

Accordingly, the office plans to operate education tailored to students' perspectives and a consultation window for preventing violations of the Public Official Election Act in advance, based on the results of consultations with the joint promotion team of 17 city and provincial offices of education under the Ministry of Education, and through a cooperative system established with the Central and Provincial Election Commissions.

In addition, to ensure neutral educational activities by teachers responsible for election education and to prevent violations of the Public Official Election Act, step-by-step teacher training will be conducted. Furthermore, standards restricting external election campaigning within schools were also presented to protect students' right to learn from excessive electioneering.

Accordingly, all middle and high schools in the province will designate an election education week linked to democratic citizenship education before the April election and conduct suffrage education connected to the curriculum using educational content provided by the Election Commission.

Park Se-gwon, Director of Democratic Citizenship Education, stated, “We will continuously prepare educational support measures so that students can properly understand elections and actively exercise their voting rights.”

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