Education Civic Group "Opposes Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education's 'Building Security System'"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education's ongoing implementation of a building security system is being criticized as an act of ignoring the voices of citizens.

The Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Elitism announced on the 13th through a press release that they oppose the Gwangju Office of Education's building security system, which goes against cooperative governance.

The Gwangju Office of Education recently conducted a staff survey to introduce a building access system.

It is known that with the introduction of the building access system, citizens will not be able to enter the office spaces of the education office and will handle consultations and complaints in a separate citizen reception room.

Regarding this, the group stated, "The intention to guarantee employees' legitimate work performance and physical safety and to protect the education office's property rights should be respected," but added, "However, viewing the building not as a public good accessible to students, faculty, parents, and other citizens, but as a facility exclusive to employees is wrong."

They continued, "If the building access system is to be introduced, concrete evidence must first be presented, such as how many cases of damage to employees and the building have occurred during the past period, what the criteria are for visits that interfere with legitimate work, and the frequency of such occurrences," and argued, "Measures to prevent these cases should be reviewed from multiple angles and opinions gathered, including whether uniform access control is appropriate or if deploying security guards and other security enhancement measures are possible."

They also said, "It raises several questions whether the introduction is truly to protect employees' legitimate working environment, or to reduce workload by making citizen consultations and complaint handling as inconvenient as possible, or if it is for the protocol of education officials such as Superintendent Jang Hwigu," emphasizing, "The Gwangju Office of Education has repeatedly controlled visits by citizens, education-related civic groups, and labor unions by closing building entrances or chasing away visitors."

Finally, they stated, "The Gwangju Office of Education should halt the introduction of the building access system and practice open administration by listening to citizens' voices in line with the principles of educational cooperation in Gwangju," adding, "Education-related civic groups and labor unions in the Gwangju area have filed complaints with the education office with this intention and are considering filing a petition with the National Human Rights Commission depending on whether improvements are made."

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