Former KTU Gwangju Branch Head Jeong Sunghong Announces Bid for Gwangju Superintendent of Education

Jeong Sunghong, former head of the Gwangju branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, has officially announced his candidacy for next year’s Gwangju superintendent of education election. He directly criticized the current educational administration, stating, "Gwangju education must return to its proper course."

Jeong Sunghong, former head of the Gwangju branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, held a press conference with supporters on the 25th at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education to announce his candidacy for the superintendent election.

At a press conference held on the 25th at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, Jeong stated, "Currently, Gwangju’s education system ranks students, tests the financial capacity of families, and demands distrust and overload from teachers." He added, "With an urgent desire to make Gwangju education true to Gwangju’s spirit, I have decided to run for office," and announced three main strategies and ten key initiatives. He presented three directions: happiness-oriented education that helps students discover their individuality, safe education where all school members are respected, and collaborative education involving citizens.

The ten key initiatives include expanding the dedicated basic academic skills program, establishing a Gwangju-style transition school for students who have dropped out, achieving the nation’s highest standards for school meals, unifying the education complaint handling system, guaranteeing appropriate class hours, improving the treatment of non-regular workers, creating 10,000 jobs in Gwangju’s education sector, regularizing town hall meetings, and founding an Asia Peace School based on citizen participation. Regarding candidate consolidation, he stated, "I will follow the rules set by civic organizations," maintaining an open stance on unifying with opponents of Lee Jungseon.

Jeong also criticized the current superintendent, saying, "There are suspicions of personnel corruption, such as appointing a high school classmate as an auditor, and allegations of influence peddling by unofficial power brokers," and added, "It has reached the point where it is shameful to face the children."

Jeong has worked as a secondary school teacher for 36 years and has served as co-representative of the Gwangju Education Hope Network and as an event committee member for the May 18 Democratic Uprising Commemoration Committee. In the previous Gwangju superintendent election, he finished third with 21.86% of the vote.

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