On the afternoon of the 18th, at a press conference of the Seoul Education Organizations Council, held in front of the Seoul Administrative Court in Seocho-gu on the afternoon of the 18th, attendees are calling out slogans to condemn the court’s ruling that it is illegal to cancel the designation of a private high school. yunhap news
Following Busan on the 18th, the court in Seoul also revoked designation by the Office of Education. TreasuryHowever, this court decision is unlikely to have a direct impact on the Ministry of Education’s policy of converting private high schools, foreign high schools, and international high schools into general high schools scheduled for 2025. The basis for the existence of own high school, foreign high school, and international high school has disappeared following the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Primary and Secondary Education Act last year. Only the enforcement time of the revised enforcement decree has been postponed until 2025. The reason why the education authorities initially pulled out the collective conversion card through the revision of the enforcement ordinance was to eliminate the conflict with the education authorities every time by filing a lawsuit for each school that was eliminated from re-designation, as in this administrative lawsuit. An official from the Ministry of Education said, “As it is still the first trial decision, we plan to observe the final judgment of the court,” and said, “It is a policy that the reorganization of the high school system in 2025 will be pursued as planned, regardless of the result of this administrative litigation.” Once created, private high schools are not a school system that lasts as it is, but a school system that is only recognized for a limited time in special cases, and the conflict was repeated after being redesignated every 5 years. In the end, the Ministry of Education, in November 2019, devised a plan for resolving the ranking of high schools and strengthening the educational capabilities of general high schools, creating a ranking among schools, deepening private education, etc., which has been criticized for causing inequality. I decided to switch. This transition policy is also linked to the high school credit system, which is expected to be fully implemented in 2025. The introduction of the high school credit system in the presence of a high school ranking trend leads to a further widening of the gap between schools. Accordingly, voices from the education community criticized the court’s decision on this day. “The decision that gave strength to the company’s attempts to go against the publicity of education” (National Federation of Teachers and Employees) and “decision to trample the aspirations of the subject of education to resolve high school rankings and privileged education” (a world without concern for private education). The key, however, is the result of a court battle that raised a problem with the education authorities’ collective conversion policy itself. In May of last year, school corporations that operate private high schools requested a judgment on constitutional complaints, claiming that the revision of the enforcement decree of the Ministry of Education, which deleted the grounds for the existence of private high schools, foreign high schools, and international high schools, was unconstitutional due to infringement of basic rights. If this constitutional petition is accepted, the batch conversion scheduled for 2025 will be canceled. There is also another element of anxiety. There is no guarantee that the next government, which took power in the next year’s presidential election, will take over the policy of converting private high schools, foreign high schools, and international high schools into general high schools. This is because there is a possibility that the next government will revert the enforcement decree again. In a briefing the day before, Yu Eun-hye, Vice Prime Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said, “Regardless of how the government changes according to the results of the presidential election, the consistency and continuity of education policy must be guaranteed.” The company’s high school side expressed its welcome to the ruling on the day. Seoul Jasa High School Principals Association Chairman Kim Chul-gyeong said, “We believe that all six private high schools that were eliminated from re-designation along with Pai-Jae and Sehwa High School will win.” “The results of the constitutional appeal will also come out in favor of the company’s high school,” he argued. By Lee Yoo-jin and Choi Won-hyeong, staff reporter [email protected]