Abolition of Gyeongnam Village Education Community Ordinance confirmed… Superintendent Park Jong-hoon: “It’s devastating.”

We will not consider filing a complaint to the Supreme Court.

When the ‘Ordinance on Support for Revitalization of Gyeongnam Village Education Communities’ was finally abolished, Gyeongnam Superintendent of Education Park Jong-hoon expressed his feelings, saying, “It is devastating.”

After the plenary session ended, Superintendent Park immediately held a press conference in the briefing room of the Provincial Office of Education and said, “The biggest support for education that saves our children’s future and our region and village has been completely cut off.”

He also said, “It is neither reasonable nor common sense that the ordinance was abolished three years after the ordinance was enacted and only three months after the ordinance was revised.”

However, he expressed his intention not to file a complaint with the Supreme Court.

Superintendent Park said, “I could not find any procedural justification in the Provincial Council’s decision,” and “Rather, it goes against the global education trend, goes against the direction of Korea’s education policy, is indifferent to the efforts of other attempts, and is taking a step backwards in future education for children.” “I only saw it,” he said.

At the same time, he criticized the People Power Party, the majority party in the provincial council, for deciding to support the abolition of the ordinance before the plenary session as a party line, and announced plans to make this a national topic.

He said, “It is un-educational and undermines the political neutrality of education to abolish the ordinance for tomorrow’s education for children’s future as a party line.” He added, “We will nationalize this agenda by asking the Central Party’s opinions on whether they really think so.” did it

During the Provincial Council agenda debate, a member in favor of abolition also strongly criticized the statement that even if the ordinance is abolished, the project will not be canceled and that local governments can operate by directly executing project costs.

Superintendent Park said, “If you think about it negatively, it can be interpreted as an attempt to hand over the Office of Education project to the local government, saying that since it is a good project, it will be taken away from the Superintendent of Education and given to the mayor or county governor.” He added, “The reason that the project can continue even without an ordinance is because of laws called ordinances and self-governing laws.” “It is a remark that greatly undermines the value of,” he said.

He also said, “We will never let this go on,” and “We will stick together until the end and do it until the National Assembly raises its hand.”

The Ordinance on Support for Revitalization of Gyeongnam Village Education Community was enacted in July 2021 to create an educational ecosystem in which schools, villages, offices of education, and local governments collaborate and cooperate to operate future education districts, install and operate Happy Village Schools, and provide education. It became the basis for budget management, including support for cooperatives.

However, due to the fact that the village instructor declared support for Superintendent Park during his candidacy and the fact that a person involved in the so-called Changwon Espionage Incident worked as a village instructor, the impartiality of education was damaged and the hiring and management standards for implementing ideology and value education and securing instructor expertise were established. It was embroiled in controversy over poor quality and safety issues for children.

After the abolition of the ordinance was passed at the first plenary session of the 418th extraordinary session of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council on the 15th of last month, it was put to a vote again at the request of Superintendent Park for reconsideration, but was ultimately not revived.

As a result of an anonymous vote at the 2nd plenary session of the 149th Extraordinary Meeting on the 20th of this month, the abolition was confirmed with 55 in favor, 5 against, and 2 abstentions out of 62 registered members.

Previously, the Provincial Office of Education presented a reform plan, including the establishment of a provision on grounds for maintaining educational neutrality, revision and deletion of political-oriented terms in the ordinance, consultation with local governments on regional village learning centers, and the operation of a permanent monitoring group, but it was criticized as a belated response to the Provincial Council.

Superintendent Park attempted to revive the ordinance by personally visiting provincial offices of education, collecting opinions on the abolition of the ordinance, requesting reconsideration, and persuading lawmakers, but was unable to persuade them in the end due to criticism that the reform plan was not being implemented properly.

<ⓒ투자가를 위한 경제콘텐츠 플랫폼, 아시아경제(www.asiae.co.kr) 무단전재 배포금지>