Lee Hyuk-je, Former Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member, Urges Withdrawal of Jeonnam Middle School Teacher Reduction Policy

Lee Hyuk-je, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-gyeong] The Jeonnam Provincial Council has strongly urged the Ministry of Education, the government, and the National Assembly to promote teacher supply policies tailored to Jeonnam's characteristics in preparation for the post-COVID era.

On the 8th, Lee Hyuk-je, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Mokpo 4), pointed out the teacher supply policy promoted by the Ministry of Education during the 346th extraordinary session plenary meeting and introduced the "Resolution to Urge the Promotion of Teacher Supply Policy in Preparation for the Post-COVID Era" as the representative proposer.

Earlier, on July 23, the Ministry of Education announced the "Teacher Supply Policy Promotion Plan Responding to Future Changes in the Educational Environment," stating that it would reduce the number of secondary school teachers in Jeonnam by up to 224, considering the decline in the school-age population.

Assemblyman Lee Hyuk-je pointed out, "Deciding the number of teachers solely based on economic logic focusing only on the increase or decrease in the number of students, ignoring the era's demand for securing small classes and regular teachers to ensure safety and improve the quality of education in the COVID-19 era, is a policy that disregards Jeonnam's reality and regional characteristics."

He continued, "In Jeonnam's education, 73.7% of schools are rural and fishing villages, and 43% are small schools with fewer than 60 students. Compared to other cities and provinces, there is a relatively high deployment of itinerant and concurrent teachers, increasing the tendency to avoid rural and fishing village schools."

He also added, "The number of 'Sangchi (相馳) teachers,' who teach two subjects by handling classes outside their major subjects, was ▲180 (2.8%) in 2017 ▲165 (2.6%) in 2018 ▲96 (1.5%) in 2020."

Assemblyman Lee strongly urged the government and the National Assembly to "minimize the deployment of fixed-term, itinerant, and concurrent teachers, expand the appropriate number of teachers considering Jeonnam's special characteristics, and reduce the number of students per class by increasing the number of teachers in line with the expanded role of teachers in the post-COVID era."

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