Feud grows over autonomous school evaluation

Principals of 22 autonomous private high schools in Seoul speak about their plan to refuse education authorities unfair assessment standards during the press conference at Ewha Girls' High School in Jung-gu, central Seoul, Monday. /Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

A conflict between autonomous private high schools and the education authorities is growing, with the former planning to ignore the latter's evaluation for license renewal which it claims was designed to revoke the license.

The education authorities say the schools' move lacks justification, indicating the schools will be deprived of their licenses if they refuse to accept the evaluation process.

Principals of 22 autonomous private high schools in Seoul said Monday that they would ignore the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's (SMOE) assessment.

Autonomous high schools are given more authority in student selection and curriculum. But with higher tuition fees and higher academic levels, they are usually considered “elite schools” attended by children of affluent parents.

They must undergo a licensing renewal evaluation every five years. If they fail to receive over 70 points out of 100, they are reclassified as a regular high school.

The schools argued that the assessment standards of the SMOE were unfavorable to them and aimed at abolish private schools. This year, 13 of the 22 schools are up for evaluation.

“We will not accept the current evaluation standards,” the principals said in a statement during a press conference at Ewha Girls' High School in central Seoul, Monday. “Not a single school can satisfy the current standards of the education office, which shows its explicit intention of abolishing autonomous private high schools.”

They said the unfavorable standards were announced just before the evaluation, claiming the office plans to revoke the licenses of schools whose academic programs and goals do not match those set by the office.

They said they would not accept the evaluation indefinitely unless SMOE Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon meets them and agrees to their requests in the assessment standards.

The SMOE is taking a stern attitude toward the schools' move, saying it followed the education ministry's recommendations in drawing up the assessment standards, just like other regional education offices.

“We attempted to hold meetings with heads of the autonomous schools to discuss the evaluation, but they refused to attend,” it said, adding it would decide on the license renewal with its own assessment without reflecting the schools' accounts if the principals refuse to meet with it.

The situation is similar for autonomous private high schools in other regions. Besides Seoul, 11 schools are subject to evaluation this year.

School parents and alumni of Sangsan High School in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, are also protesting against its regional education office as it has set higher standards than other regions ― 80 points out of 100 to maintain their licenses. Dongsan Christian High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, also urged the local education office to review their assessment standard.

Six autonomous private high schools faced license revocation in a 2014 assessment in Seoul. However, the then-education ministry under former President Park Geun-hye disapproved the regional office's decision, and the Supreme Court sided with the government saying that the SMOE needed the ministry's agreement on the matter.

However, the situation is different now as President Moon Jae-in promised to abolish autonomous private high schools across the country which he says bring about educational polarization.

As it stands, if regional education offices decide to cancel the licenses of certain autonomous private high schools, the education ministry is likely to approve it.