Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon Appeals Cancellation of Autonomous Private High School Status as Invalid, Citing "Predictability"

Decision to Appeal Court Ruling Invalidating Cancellation of Autonomous Private High School Approval
"It Was a Legitimate Evaluation Ensuring Predictability"
Existing Indicators Were Specified and Guided Annually Through a Handbook
Regarding Constitutional Court Ruling, "We Do Not Expect to Lose"

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is making an announcement on August 25 last year at the briefing room of the main building of the Government Seoul Office regarding the transition to remote classes for kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, and special schools located in the metropolitan area. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 15th that it will appeal the court's ruling invalidating the cancellation of the designation of autonomous private high schools (Jasago). Earlier, the court ruled in favor of Jasago in a lawsuit filed by Paejae High School and Sehwa High School against the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, challenging the cancellation of their Jasago designation. The first trial verdict for Shinil High School and Sungmoon High School is scheduled for the 23rd.

On this day, Superintendent Cho stated in a press release, "The 2019 evaluation of Jasago operational performance was a lawful evaluation that sufficiently guaranteed predictability," and added, "We will do our best to normalize high school education by converting Jasago that cannot achieve their designated purposes into general high schools."

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled on the 18th of last month that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's announcement at the end of 2018 of the ‘discretionary indicators and audit-related issues’ criteria, newly established in the 2019 Jasago evaluation standards, and its retroactive application to the operational performance evaluations from 2015 to 2019 constituted an abuse of discretion.

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained that the newly added item in the 2019 Jasago evaluation standards was only one: ‘normalization of school work and fostering a school culture of participation, communication, and cooperation,’ and that it was merely a concretization of 3 to 4 discretionary indicators from the 2015 evaluation onward.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "This indicator has also been consistently communicated as applied to the evaluation of Jasago-type schools through the annual school evaluation guidebook since 2015." Additionally, among the newly established evaluation criteria, the court recognized the appropriateness of the items ▲ thoroughness of impact assessment on high school admissions and ▲ efforts to improve classroom instruction.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education refuted the Jasago side's claim of unpredictability by stating that it has consistently maintained the evaluation criteria and even gathered opinions from Jasago representatives. The office explained, "The Jasago evaluation has been consistently maintained with improvements since the 2014 evaluation, and all details have been published on the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education website," adding, "The Ministry of Education and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also collected opinions from Jasago regarding the 2015 Ministry of Education standard plan."

Superintendent Cho pointed out that "the education office's discretionary indicators in the evaluation criteria were appropriate indicators to judge the possibility of achieving Jasago’s ‘designated purpose’," criticizing the court's ruling for not considering the professionalism of education and administrative flexibility. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "The increased penalty for audit-related issues reflects the intent of the 2014 revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," and added, "Considering the social expectations for private school management, it is not excessive, and the fact that many audit-related issues occurred itself proves that school management had become lax."

The Ministry of Education is revising the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to convert Jasago, foreign language high schools, and international high schools into general high schools, effective from March 2025. Regarding the inevitability of the conversion but the reason for appealing, a Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official said, "The message sent to parents carries significant meaning," and added, "It is necessary to present a broad direction regarding the high school hierarchy policy, and in this regard, filing an appeal is natural."

Last May, 24 Jasago and international high schools filed a constitutional complaint against the conversion to general high schools, drawing attention to the Constitutional Court's decision. Unless overturned by the Constitutional Court, the lifespan of Jasago is only four years left. A Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official said, "We do not believe we will lose in the Constitutional Court ruling."

Superintendent Cho declared his intention to normalize high school education through the conversion to general high schools. He said, "With the implementation of the revised 2015 curriculum, Paejae High School and Sehwa High School will be able to operate diverse and distinctive curricula even after conversion to general high schools," and added, "We will fully clarify the legitimacy of the cancellation of the Jasago designation."

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