Kim Dong-yeon Education Pledge Announcement: "Conduct CSAT Twice, Abolish Ministry of Education"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Kim Dong-yeon, the preparatory committee chairman of the New Wave party, announced an education reform plan as the third pledge, which includes improvements to the entrance examination system and the abolition of the Ministry of Education.

On the 16th, Chairman Kim held a press conference at the National Assembly and announced "Education Reform Without Fail - A 10-Year Promise." The pledge includes entrance exam reform, university reform, and governance reform.

He said on the day, "Every citizen of the Republic of Korea should enjoy free and fair educational opportunities."

The entrance exam reform plan envisions abolishing the student record comprehensive screening and simplifying it into a school record-centered early admission system. He also proposed conducting the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) twice and recognizing the higher score of the two. Furthermore, he suggested turning the CSAT into a qualification test and achieving autonomy in private university admissions.

The university reform plan includes consolidating national universities centered on base universities and restructuring specialized fields and departments to foster universities at the level of Seoul National University. It also includes relocating Seoul National University's undergraduate division to provinces and moving private universities located in Seoul to provinces. Additionally, it proposes gradually reducing operational expense support for private universities while allowing autonomy in tuition fees and department establishment. Competitive provincial universities will be nurtured as specialized small but strong universities.

The governance reform plan includes abolishing the Ministry of Education and reorganizing the National Education Commission. It proposes transferring the city and provincial offices of education for elementary and secondary education and abolishing the Ministry of Education under the principle of university autonomy. The functions of the Ministry of Education will be transferred to the National Education Commission.

The term of National Education Commissioners will be extended longer than the presidential term, and the commission will be composed not only of education experts but also key figures from industry and education innovators. It also announced the establishment of a higher education financial grant from the local education finance grants to expand university finances.

Chairman Kim emphasized regarding this pledge, "Education has become a means of inheriting social status and wealth," and stated, "We will break the hereditary system disguised as meritocracy."

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