 A woman walks past the main gate of Dongyang High School in Gangseo-gu, southwestern Seoul, one of the 26 "autonomous" schools in Seoul, Friday. The school decided to drop the status after failing to attract even one new student for the 2012 academic year. Yonhap |
By Na Jeong-ju
The education ministry is facing growing calls to scale down its project to nurture so-called autonomous private high schools as many of them have failed to draw enough students.
According to the ministry, 11 of the 26 autonomous schools in Seoul received fewer applications than the quota for the 2012 academic year. Dongyang High School in Gangseo, southwestern Seoul, couldn’t accept even one new student because there were no applications. It initially planned to select 280.
Enrollments at Yongmoon High School in Seongbuk, northeastern Seoul, were also 40 percent short of its quota, forcing a raise in tuition for existing pupils. The school received fewer students than the quota for the second consecutive year.
School officials say the low popularity of autonomous schools derives from the ministry’s half-baked policy.
The ministry has designated 51 private high schools nationwide as autonomous schools since early 2009 to diversify high school education, widen choices for students and increase competition. The creation of the schools was one of President Lee Myung-bak’s key pledges during the 2007 presidential campaign.
After Lee’s inauguration in early 2008, the ministry unveiled a plan to set up 100 autonomous schools by 2012. However, education officials recently said they won’t stick to the numerical goal, suggesting that the original plan could be readjusted.
“The biggest problem is that too many autonomous schools were set up in a short period of time. It is true that some of them are popular, but most are having difficulty in drawing enough students,” a teacher at Dongyang said.
Dongyang and Yongmoon high schools plan to file a petition with the ministry soon to cancel their status as autonomous schools.
The schools can enjoy greater autonomy compared to other ordinary high schools in terms of tuition, curriculum and teacher recruitment without financial aid from the government. They usually charge three times more tuition than regular high schools.
However, they are banned from recruiting students through written tests or interviews. They instead rely on school records and recommendations, and use a lottery system for their selections. In addition, 20 percent of the students must come from underprivileged families.
Despite the negative outlook for such schools, the ministry remains confident that their existence will help improve the overall quality of education. A ministry official said Thursday that the government will provide financial and administrative support for struggling autonomous schools if the situation doesn’t improve.
Experts say the government’s false prediction of demand for autonomous schools has put the country’s high school education at risk.
“It’s time to revise the existing policy and start from scratch before it is too late,” said Kim Seung-hyun, a spokesman for a Seoul-based civic group making efforts to reduce households’ burden of private tutoring.
“It’s important for the government to admit that its autonomous school policy has failed and seek better options to normalize high school education.”
