Ministry of Education Agrees to Cancel Designation of Daewon and Yeonghun International Middle Schools... School Officials Respond with "Legal Action" (Update)

Parents of Yeonghun and Daewon International Middle School held a silent protest on the 29th in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in Jongno-gu, Seoul, holding placards to urge opposition to the abolition of Yeonghun and Daewon International Middle School. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of Education has agreed to cancel the designation of Daewon International Middle School and Younghoon International Middle School, private international middle schools in Seoul, as specialized middle schools (international middle schools), and these schools will be converted to general middle schools starting next year.

On the morning of the 17th, the Ministry of Education held a Special Purpose High School Designation Committee meeting to review the legality of the international middle school designation cancellation procedure and evaluation indicators. As a result, on the 20th, it announced, "We agree with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's decision to cancel the designation of Daewon International Middle School and Younghoon International Middle School as specialized middle schools in the international field based on their operational performance evaluation."

The Ministry of Education also judged that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's evaluation that these schools were generally insufficient in educational activities aimed at nurturing global talents in line with the purpose of establishing international middle schools was "appropriate."

Accordingly, the two schools will be converted to general middle schools starting next year, and current students will maintain their status as specialized middle school students until graduation.

Earlier, on the 10th of last month, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced its intention to cancel the designation of Daewon International Middle School and Younghoon International Middle School as specialized middle schools. The reason was that from the compulsory education stage of middle school, these schools promoted educational hierarchy and private education, undermining the public nature of education.

Schools and parents protested, claiming that the evaluation criteria scores were raised and that the education office's decision reflected a political intent not to re-designate the international middle schools. However, after a hearing on the 25th of last month, the education office sent an official letter to the Ministry of Education on the 8th of this month seeking consent for the cancellation of the specialized middle school designation.

According to the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, metropolitan and provincial superintendents of education must obtain consent from the Minister of Education to cancel the designation of specialized middle schools. The Ministry of Education must decide whether to consent within 50 days from the date of receiving the consent application from the superintendent.

Last year, to alleviate high school hierarchy, the Ministry of Education also agreed to cancel the designation of eight autonomous private high schools (Autonomous Private High Schools, or "Jasago") in Seoul, including Kyunghee, Paeje, Sehwa, and Soongmoon, at the request of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

Daewon and Younghoon International Middle Schools stated, "The education authorities have already reached a conclusion to cancel the designation and conducted a hasty evaluation," and they plan to take legal actions such as filing for a provisional injunction to suspend the effect of the cancellation order.

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