Vying to cut education divide
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Lee Cheong-yeon, superintendent of the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Incheon, March 3. / Courtesy of the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education
Superintendent all-out to bring change to schools in Incheon
By Chung Hyun-chae
Lee Cheong-yeon, superintendent of the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education, has vowed to narrow the widening education gap between students of well-to-do families and those of poor families.
“We’re planning to provide financial and administrative support for students living in underdeveloped regions so they can have better educational opportunities,” Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Times at his office in Incheon.
For this, the education office is implementing a project of turning the city’s old and rundown areas into an “innovative education zone.”
One such area is Nam-gu, located southwest of Incheon. It was once the center of Incheon in the past. Quality of education there is now considered to be lower than that of Songdo and Cheongna which have been newly developed.
The education office signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Nam-gu Office on Jan. 15 to push forward the innovative education zone project in a move to revitalize education.
“We will take a package of measures to lead innovation in school education and provide custom-tailored education for the region,” Lee said.
The Nam-gu Office will allocate 1.7 billion won ($1.52 million) for the project.
Currently there are 34 elementary and secondary schools in the district, so each school will receive an average 50 million won.
Innovation project
“We need a new education paradigm so that children can develop creativity, have a sense of cooperation and improve communication skills at schools, rather than learning by rote,” Lee said.
The superintendent stressed that school curriculums and teaching methods should be changed to provide better education for students.
Under the innovative education zone project, the education office is working together with the Nam-gu Office to helping 13 out of the 34 schools create their own distinctive school programs. This project alone will require a 390-million-won budget.
They also plan to help 26 schools recruit librarians to beef up the function of their libraries. This plan is designed to encourage students to develop the habit of reading books.
The two measures are to breed what Lee describes as “young talent with future-oriented abilities.”
Besides, the education office has promised to dispatch counselors to schools and allow them to hire assistant teachers as part of education innovation efforts.
“We have decided to spend 140 million won on sending professional counselors to 30 schools and establishing consultation offices in seven schools, with the aim of preventing school violence and helping students’ emotional development,” Kim Su-jung, an official at the education office, said.
Paradigm shift
Lee is also striving to set up “innovative schools.”
“I believe innovative schools will bring about a revolution that can lead to an education paradigm shift,” Lee said.
This year his office has designated 10 elementary schools as innovative schools where students can have creative thinking and democratic values through diverse education programs.
“In contrast to the rote learning among older generations, children should learn by discussion and teamwork,” Lee said.
The first thing Lee did upon his installation was the abolishment of standardized tests in elementary schools.
“Children should not be assessed only by test scores because the whole class and the learning process are also important,” Lee said. “I’m not saying schools should get rid of all tests and the evaluation system, but they should find how the children are changing themselves and what abilities and potential they have.”
Lee said he is thinking of abolishing standardized examinations in middle and high schools as well in the future, but that the change of the college entrance system should come first.
“I think the government should change the college admission system on a long-term basis so that students can be admitted to universities according to their high school records, instead of the College Scholastic Ability Test,” he said.
He suggested that students should be evaluated in various ways instead of the scores of the CSAT.
He called on the government to change the CSAT into a qualification exam so that each university can have more freedom to select students in different ways of evaluation.
He pointed out that the nation cannot achieve education reform without changing the current college entrance exam.