Seo Im-seok, Gwangju City Council Member, Says "City Education Office Unprepared for Kindergarten Integration"

No Additional Support Beyond Personnel Expenses for Pilot Schools

Seo Im-seok, Gwangju City Council member.

Seo Im-seok, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party, Nam-gu 1), pointed out issues regarding support and selection of pilot schools for integrated early childhood education and care during the budget review process for the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education on the 12th.

Councilor Seo stated, "Aside from providing support funds under the name of personnel expenses, I am not sure what the Office of Education is actually doing," and questioned, "Is integrated early childhood education and care simply hiring assistant teachers with the support funds received as a pilot school to look after children for long hours?"

He continued, "Among the five pilot schools in the Gwangju area, many of the selected institutions have relatively fewer children," and raised doubts, saying, "Was it intentional to select institutions operating on a small scale rather than large-scale ones as pilot schools to avoid many variables?"

Meanwhile, Gwangju City and the Office of Education have held 12 rounds of practical consultations on integrated early childhood education and care so far, but have yet to narrow their differences. There remain disagreements on essential conditions such as budget and personnel, and the three related laws on integrated early childhood education and care are still pending in the National Assembly, resulting in insufficient legal and institutional grounds.

Councilor Seo stated, "Some other cities and provinces have not allocated budgets for pilot schools of integrated early childhood education and care, citing reasons such as distrust in the Ministry of Education's support plans or national policies, and that could also be one approach," emphasizing, "Budgets should be allocated within proper policies so that parents can trust and entrust their children with confidence."

Integrated early childhood education and care combines early childhood education and childcare by integrating kindergartens and daycare centers to improve the quality of education, reduce the burden on parents, and address the low birthrate issue. However, due to the recent impeachment political turmoil, the revision of laws related to integrated early childhood education and care has been indefinitely postponed.

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