‘No Money’ Student Business Canceled... Education Superintendent's Pledge Underway

Kim Nayoon, Gwangju City Council Member, Criticizes Gwangju Office of Education's Budget Allocation Practices

Kim Nayun, Gwangju City Council member.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education has been criticized for aggressively pushing forward the superintendent's campaign projects while canceling student events.

On the 18th, Kim Na-yoon, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party, Buk-gu 6), stated during the review of the second supplementary budget proposal for the Office of Education, "The AI Factory project, a campaign promise of the superintendent, was originally targeted at middle and high schools, but when applications were low, the target was quietly expanded to include elementary schools," adding, "After the additional application announcement in September, the budget was executed at schools, which contrasts with other projects that were reduced or canceled around the same time."

Councilor Kim said, "The Office of Education allocated 9 billion KRW for the AI Factory project in this year's main budget, spending 2.7 billion KRW on 14 schools in the first half of the year. When there was remaining budget, the target was expanded in September, and by November, 5.95 billion KRW was spent on 30 schools," and added, "Despite the expansion, 350 million KRW remained, and it appears that this amount was not reduced in the second supplementary budget."

He continued, "The Office of Education canceled sports events for elementary and disabled students one after another, explaining that it was an unavoidable choice due to the government's reduction of local education finance grants," but criticized, "However, despite holding internal meetings to 'minimize all project expenditures except legally mandatory expenses,' the campaign projects were an exception."

On September 23, the Office of Education sent a notice to frontline schools announcing the '15th Gwangju Superintendent's Cup Swimming Competition' for elementary students. To promote 'survival swimming' education, the Office has held this competition annually for beginner swimmers who are not registered athletes with the Korea Swimming Federation or city/provincial federations.

However, when it became difficult to allocate the necessary budget for the event, it was unilaterally canceled on the 4th of last month. The canceled swimming competition budget was 15 million KRW and it was not included in next year's main budget either.

The same applies to the '8th Gwangju Superintendent's Cup Sports Competition for Disabled Students,' scheduled to be held this month. On the 30th of last month, the Office sent a notice stating that the event could not be held due to unavoidable expenditure cuts. However, it was excluded from the supplementary budget proposal and the budget is expected to remain unused.

Councilor Kim pointed out, "All schools that applied for the AI Factory project in the second half of the year were selected, including two schools that opened within the last three years," and added, "The project requires that at least 50% of the budget be used for interior construction (including electrical and telecommunications), raising concerns about budget waste. The Office of Education must carefully consider what the priority projects for students truly are."

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