Assemblyman Park Chunduk: "Management and Operation Programs Still Pending Despite Completion of Distribution, Desk-bound Administration"

People Power Party member Park Chunduk is speaking at the 3rd plenary session of the 398th regular meeting of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council. [Image source=Gyeongnam Provincial Council]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Criticism has been raised regarding the student smart device distribution project by the provincial education office, which became a point of contention among candidates for the Gyeongnam Superintendent of Education during the nationwide local elections last June.

On the 15th, Park Chunduk, a member of the People Power Party, pointed out issues regarding the management and efficiency of the provincial education office’s smart device distribution project during the 3rd plenary session of the 398th regular meeting of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council.

According to Representative Park, as the Ministry of Education launched a large-scale one-person-one-smart-device distribution project in response to the digital transformation era, the Gyeongnam Office of Education completed the distribution of a total of 290,000 smart devices by August this year.

Park stated, “If educational administration preparing for the next generation is not transparent, education in Gyeongnam will inevitably regress,” and added, “Despite the huge budget投入, there is a lack of thorough verification of the education office’s student smart device distribution project.”

He continued, “Due to the poor quality of the beta version management program installed during the pilot operation period, our children were left defenselessly exposed to harmful sites such as games,” and criticized, “There is no administrative effort to communicate with schools during the policy implementation process, such as the absence of device usage training for frontline teachers.”

Park also questioned, “Smart devices, which are subject to electronic tag (RFID) attachment under the Enforcement Decree of the Shared Property Goods Management Act, should have electronic tags attached immediately upon distribution. What is the reason for the delay in attachment?”

Furthermore, he inquired about the reason for signing a separate defect repair service level agreement (SLA) despite having established a direct center that unites 103 related companies in the province to support device A/S.

In response, Kang Shinyoung, Director of Future Education at the Provincial Office of Education, explained, “In order to link with the K-EduFine system, final delivery and inspection must be completed before electronic tags can be attached, so it was not possible to attach them simultaneously with distribution,” and added, “The 103 A/S direct centers focus on supporting the distribution project, so the SLA agreement was signed to guarantee equal-level defect repair performance for five years after distribution.”

Following this, Representative Park proposed that all aspects related to the A/S contract be disclosed to the residents.

Park criticized, “Although the device distribution by the provincial education office was already completed in August, the MDM system, which is a program that should manage and operate the devices integrally, is scheduled to be completed only by the end of September,” calling it “a typical case of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, a desk-bound administration.”

He also raised suspicions about the timing of the project, which coincided with the local elections, as well as the appropriateness of purchase prices and contract methods depending on device specifications and manufacturers.

Park concluded by urging, “Please strive for systematic management and enhancement of effectiveness of this project to strengthen the future educational capabilities of our children.”

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