Lee Ju-ho: "2023 is the inaugural year of education reform... We will focus our capabilities"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, once again expressed a strong commitment to the government's national agenda of education reform.

In his New Year's address at the Ministry of Education's opening ceremony held at the Government Complex Sejong on the 2nd, Deputy Prime Minister Lee stated, "We will make 2023 the inaugural year of education reform and a year to focus our capabilities," emphasizing, "To nurture protagonists in various fields who will lead advanced industries and enrich our culture starting from the classroom, we must comprehensively reform our education system to awaken the sleeping classrooms."

Reflecting on 2022, his first year in office, Lee said, "Last year, the Ministry of Education did its best to fulfill the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's national agenda based on the historic mission of 'education reform,' but we have only just taken the first step on the journey of education reform."

He added, "For the first time in history, we established a comprehensive plan to guarantee basic academic skills, and we successfully completed the curriculum revision work with the National Education Commission to equip students with competencies suitable for the digital era. Together with related ministries, we formulated and announced a comprehensive plan for semiconductor and digital talent development. We also allowed universities to freely reorganize departments within their total enrollment quotas, and the four major requirements have entered a phase of gradual reform."

He continued, "We enacted the Special Account Act for Supporting Lifelong Education in High Schools to expand university financial conditions and create a catalyst for nurturing local talent," explaining, "Overall, it was a year in which we reorganized the Ministry of Education's structure to align with the direction of education reform and solidly improved the implementation system."

Deputy Prime Minister Lee concluded by saying, "We will strive to make our education achieve various accomplishments with the bright energy of the new year."

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