Seung-hwan Kim, Jeonbuk Superintendent of Education, "Do Not Understand Government Teacher Supply and Demand Policy"

Government's Claim of OECD Average Is "Fact Concealment"

Photo by Jeonbuk Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Myung-jin] Kim Seung-hwan, Superintendent of Jeonbuk Provincial Office of Education, expressed concerns about the government's teacher supply and demand policy.

Superintendent Kim pointed out problems with the teacher supply and demand policy for both elementary and secondary education during the expanded executive meeting held on the 27th.

The government has set a policy to fully implement the high school credit system and subject selection system starting in 2025, planning to maintain the current number of teachers and resolve the issue through multi-subject teaching by a single teacher.

Regarding this, Superintendent Kim stated, "I think the government's idea is complacent and irresponsible," and argued, "If such a system is to be introduced, it should have been implemented from the College of Education with a proper curriculum developed."

He also expressed difficulty in understanding the plan to reduce elementary school teachers due to the sharp decline in student numbers, announced at the 10th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting and the 4th Human Investment and Talent Development Council on the 23rd.

Superintendent Kim said, "The government claims that the number of students is rapidly decreasing and that the number of students per teacher is not high compared to the OECD average," adding, "Even looking only at Jeonbuk Province, overcrowded schools in Jeonju, Gunsan, and Iksan have about 30 students per teacher."

He continued, "Talking only about the average number of students per teacher across the entire region without considering the different situations by region and school is actually concealing the facts," he pointed out.

Superintendent Kim emphasized, "In the era of the coronavirus, it is a well-known fact that density and enclosure need to be reduced, and to do so, it would be appropriate to increase the number of classes and disperse schools on a small scale," adding, "In the future, superintendents will discuss this direction."

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