'AI Textbook' Downgraded as Educational Material... Opposition Party Pushes for Passage in Today's Plenary Session
Passage in Plenary Session Expected on 26th or 31st
Lee Ju-ho's '1-Year Grace Period' Mediation Proposal Persuasion
Opposition Education Committee Firm on 'Passage Within the Year'
Decline in Adoption Rates by School, Publisher Impact Anticipated
A bill to downgrade the AI (Artificial Intelligence) digital textbooks, which were scheduled to be introduced in schools starting next year, to 'educational materials' will be submitted to the National Assembly plenary session this afternoon. If the bill passes, the obligation for each school to choose AI digital textbooks will be removed, which is expected to undermine the effectiveness of the policy.
According to the National Assembly Education Committee on the 26th, a revision bill to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act with such content is planned to be submitted to the plenary session this afternoon. An official from the Speaker's Office of the National Assembly stated, "We understand that the revision bill will be submitted to the plenary session today."
As the opposition party is pushing for the passage of the revision bill within this year, the Ministry of Education has recently begun persuasion efforts. On the 23rd, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, met with Democratic Party members of the National Assembly Education Committee and proposed a compromise plan to maintain the legal status of AI digital textbooks as textbooks but postpone the mandatory introduction to 2026, one year later. However, it is reported that opposition lawmakers rejected this proposal.
If the bill passes, it will also affect the adoption rate of AI digital textbooks. Textbooks must be mandatorily designated by each school, but educational materials can be chosen at the discretion of the school principal. In this case, there are concerns about a series of lawsuits from publishers who developed the textbooks expecting mandatory adoption.
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It is also inevitable to push for budget cuts in the subscription fees for AI digital textbooks, which 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education initially reflected in their budget plans for next year. The subscription fee budgets for AI digital textbooks prepared by the Gyeonggi-do Office of Education and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, which have the largest number of students, are approximately 52.8 billion KRW and 25.6 billion KRW, respectively. The current AI digital textbook subscription fee calculation being promoted by the Ministry of Education is also expected to lose its significance.
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