Gyeongnam Village Community Ordinance Abolition at a 'Crossroads'... Provincial Council Special Committee on Ordinance Maintenance Votes for Abolition

by Lee Seryeong

Published 15 Oct.2024 13:32(KST)

The fate of the Gyeongnam Village Education Community Activation Support Ordinance is expected to be decided on the afternoon of the 15th.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Council's Ordinance Revision Special Committee held its 9th meeting that morning and passed a proposal to repeal the Village Education Community Ordinance.

Of the 14 special committee members, 13 attended the 9th meeting, and all supported the repeal of the ordinance, leading to the submission of the Village Education Community Support Ordinance repeal proposal to the plenary session.

If the ordinance is processed at the 1st plenary session of the 418th extraordinary meeting that afternoon, the Village Education Community Ordinance will disappear.

Jeong Gyuheon, Chair of the Special Committee on Ordinance Maintenance of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council, is leading the 9th meeting on the proposal to abolish the Gyeongnam Village Education Community Support Ordinance.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Council Internet Broadcasting]

This ordinance was enacted in July 2021 to create an educational ecosystem in which schools, villages, the Office of Education, and local governments cooperate and unite within the local community.

It is the foundational ordinance for the Village Education Community support project that Superintendent Park Jong-hoon has continued since his first term, providing budgets for future education district operations, the establishment of Happy Village Schools, and support for educational cooperatives.

However, controversies arose over the violation of educational neutrality, implementation of ideological and value education, and inadequate hiring and management standards to secure instructor expertise, due to the fact that village instructors declared support during Superintendent Park’s candidacy and that individuals involved in the so-called Changwon Spy Group incident were active as village instructors.

In response, the Provincial Council completely cut the supplementary budget proposed by the Office of Education at last year’s Budget and Accounts Special Committee and announced the ordinance repeal legislation on September 19 of this year.

On this day, the Office of Education proposed reform measures including the establishment of a clause to maintain educational neutrality, revision and deletion of politically charged terms within the ordinance, consultation with local governments regarding region-specific village learning centers, and the operation of a permanent monitoring team, but failed to persuade the committee.

Jeong Gyu-heon, chair of the special committee, criticized, “The Office of Education did not present any clear opinions after announcing the ordinance repeal in September and only brought measures to preserve the ordinance today, which is too late,” adding, “It is unreasonable to bring this up on the last day after no action was taken until now, asking us to reconsider.”

He said, “The Provincial Council also wishes for the happiness of children more than anyone else and believes that children’s right to education cannot be taken away,” but added, “However, it is the responsibility of the Provincial Council to correct the wrong direction.”

He emphasized, “Even if the ordinance is repealed, we will do our best to ensure that no child suffers disadvantages.”