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| Students leave Choongang High School in Seoul, Tuesday. The school is on the verge of losing its license as an autonomous private school after failing to pass the regional education office's evaluation. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
The Seoul education office has decided to strip eight autonomous private high schools of their licenses, raising speculation that the central government's push to abolish the "elite" school system is gaining traction.
But whether the license revocation will actually take place remains to be seen, as the decision has brought about a strong backlash from the schools and parents, who have vowed to use every possible means to prevent it, including an administrative suit against the education authority and petitions to the Constitutional Court.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Tuesday that it had reviewed license renewal applications from 13 autonomous high schools in the capital, but only five had passed performance assessments that are conducted every five years.
The eight that failed are Kyunghee, Paichai, Sehwa, Soongmoon, Shinil, Ewha Womans University, Choongang and Hanyang University high schools.
The cut-off score in the assessment was 70 out of 100, but the education office did not disclose what each school scored for fear of sparking a hierarchy ranking among the schools.
Starting July 22, representatives from each of the eight schools will be able to state their case as to why they think the evaluation was improper at a public hearing, before the issue goes to Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae who has the final say.
Late last month, Yoo blamed autonomous private high schools for distorting the country's entire education system by "creating" a ranking of high schools and overheated competition among even elementary schoolchildren. He said this was the start of the protracted fight to get admission to a "prestigious" university.
If the education minister agrees with the Seoul education office's assessment, the special purpose schools will be re-designated as ordinary ones, although current attendees will remain "autonomous private school students."
"We concluded that the eight schools were not achieving the initial purpose of their foundation, so we decided to revoke their licenses," the education office said in a statement.
"Taking a closer look, seven out of the eight schools barely avoided having their licenses revoked five years ago as well, meaning they have made little effort to improve their operations."
Including the eight schools in Seoul, 11 autonomous private high schools nationwide are on the brink of losing their licenses. There are 42 such schools across the country.
The removal of autonomous private high schools was one of President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledges to address the polarization of education. The recent evaluation results are fueling speculation that the government is speeding up its drive.
However, the education office denied this, saying the results were based on the assessment of each school's operations over the past five years, and had nothing to do with a government policy to abolish them.
"I hope the evaluation will pave the way for the competition-centered and ranking-focused high school education to return to normal," said Seoul education office superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, promising administrative support for the schools' transformation.
In response, an association of principals of the schools said it will take administrative action to prevent the schools having their licenses annulled.
"After the announcement of the results, we are taking a more hardline stance. When the final decision comes, we will take countermeasures," said Kim Chul-kyung, the principal of Daegwang High School who heads the association.
Earlier, a group of parents of students attending autonomous schools in Seoul also pledged to take every possible measure if any of the schools lose their license.
Meanwhile, Incheon Posco Academy will retain its autonomous school license for the next five years after surviving the evaluation, the result of which was released Tuesday.
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