Incheon City Council Education Committee Passes Ordinance Supporting Application Fees for College Entrance Exams and Employment Certification Tests

The Education Committee of the Incheon City Council is reviewing the ordinance proposal. [Provided by Incheon City Council]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The economic burden for high school students in Incheon to enter college and find employment is expected to decrease.

The Education Committee of the Incheon City Council approved the "Ordinance on Supporting Examination Fees for University Entrance Exams and Employment Qualification Tests by the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education" during the first Education Committee meeting of the 282nd extraordinary session held on the 19th.

Originally, this ordinance was submitted to the city council during the 281st regular session to support only the examination fees for students taking the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), but it was deferred by the Education Committee due to fairness concerns among students.

Accordingly, in this extraordinary session, the Education Committee decided that support should be expanded not only to students taking the CSAT but also to students at specialized high schools preparing for employment, and thus amended and approved the original ordinance.

The amended ordinance expanded and detailed the scope of support to include not only the CSAT examination fees proposed by the Office of Education but also one selected from the university entrance screening fees and the national technical or nationally certified qualification exam fees related to employment preparation.

If this ordinance passes the plenary session on the 21st, examination fees can be supported starting from the 2022 fiscal year.

Shin Choongsik, Chair of the Education Committee, stated, "To uphold the purpose of the ordinance, which is to guarantee equal educational opportunities and secure the public nature of education, support is necessary not only for students taking the CSAT but also for students at specialized high schools."

He added, "From the perspective of educational equity, there is concern that humanities high school students taking the CSAT this year will not receive support compared to specialized high school students who are already supported under higher laws, so we will ensure that the budget is reflected in the third supplementary budget."

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