"Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education Must Actively Ensure Citizen Participation in Various Committees"

Citizen Group for a Society Without Academic Credentials, Overconcentration in Certain Occupations... Lack of Participation from Students and Women

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] An educational civic group in the Gwangju area demanded on the 30th through a press release that "the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education actively guarantee citizen participation in various committees."

The Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Clout stated, "Among the 98 committees under the Office of Education, 74 committees disclosed all information, while the remaining 24 committees either did not disclose or partially disclosed information such as committee members' names, affiliations, and positions."

They added, "An analysis of the data disclosed by the Office of Education revealed that information disclosure was not transparent, and there was a severe concentration of certain institutions, organizations, or professionals. It was a structure that made securing diversity difficult."

The civic group said, "Among all committee members whose affiliations were disclosed (916 people), the proportion of current and former public officials of the Office of Education was as high as 404 (44.1%). If the committee composition is biased toward public officials or former officials of the Office of Education, the decision-making process risks becoming formalized and bureaucratized for the convenience of the officials. In particular, the structure makes it easy for current high-ranking officials to lead specific decisions, which undermines fairness and reliability."

They also added, "External members were concentrated in specific professions such as university professors (91 people, 9.9%), school administrators (70 people, 7.6%), and non-profit private organizations (60 people, 6.6%)."

Furthermore, "Among all committee members whose affiliations were disclosed, only 8 (0.9%) were students. This is an absurdly small number compared to other educational stakeholders such as 52 teachers and 38 parents. Thirteen committees failed to meet the requirement of at least 40% female participation among appointed members," they claimed.

The civic group stated, "Even though it has been eight years since the ordinance regulating various committees comprehensively was enacted, there is little evidence of achievements in enhancing citizen participation, rationality, and fairness in decision-making when forming committees."

They urged the Office of Education, "Committees should be operated through diverse citizen voices by increasing participation from professionals with expertise and experience in each field, as well as students and women. Additionally, operate substantive committees that comply with the ordinance provisions."

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