Gwangju Education Civic Group "Need to Improve Educational Conditions for Disabled and Establish Institutional Support Measures"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] A civic education organization in Gwangju has argued that institutional support should be provided to improve educational conditions for people with disabilities and to prevent mid-term resignations after employment.

The Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Clout, an educational civic organization in the Gwangju area, stated on the 24th, "The employment rate of disabled public officials by the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education in 2020 was only 2.33%. This falls short of the mandated employment quota."

As a penalty for this, the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education paid approximately 840 million KRW in disability employment levies.

The civic group pointed out, "While bearing such a heavy burden amid tight financial conditions is problematic, it is a shameful reality that an educational institution, which should be at the forefront of disability rights issues, is lagging behind to this extent."

They added, "Although the employment rate of disabled persons at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has never exceeded the mandatory employment rate, related agencies have not collected employment levies from the Office of Education for public officials, citing the creation of a disabled-friendly employment environment as the reason."

The civic group explained, "Since the amendment of the Act on the Promotion of Employment of Disabled Persons in 2016, provisions for the payment of employment levies by national and local governments have been established, and from 2021, based on the 2020 employment rate, employment levies have been collected (with a 50% reduction for the Office of Education for three years)."

They stated, "It is unfair to single out the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education. This is because few disabled persons apply for certain public official recruitment exams such as teachers and professionals, and even those who do often fail to pass the qualification screening standards."

They continued, "To address this, the admission quotas for disabled students at education universities and teacher training colleges must be increased, and infrastructure to support them should be systematically established."

The civic group urged the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education to "sign a business agreement with local teacher training colleges and education universities to improve educational conditions for people with disabilities and to provide institutional support to prevent mid-term resignations after employment."

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