By Na Jeong-ju
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will conduct an audit of Seoul’s education office for two weeks beginning Monday in an apparent bid to look into its budget spending under former liberal superintendent Kwak No-hyun.
Kwak’s aides claimed the probe is politically motivated to affect the upcoming election to choose Seoul’s new education chief, but the ministry said it was planned early this year.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), Tuesday, a team of 20 ministry officials will inspect major policies, personnel appointments as well as budget expenditure approved by Kwak.
A critic of Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, Kwak was ousted from office and put behind bars last month after the Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict on bribery charges. He was sentenced to one year in prison for giving 200 million won to a rival candidate in return for the latter’s withdrawal from the 2010 election for the post of SMOE chief.
The vote to choose Kwak’s successor will take place on the same day as the presidential election on Dec. 19.
Liberal groups criticized the ministry for abusing its power to influence the upcoming election.
“The audit takes place at a very sensitive time. The ministry may attempt to find fault with Kwak and use it for political maneuvering,” an aide to Kwak said on condition of anonymity.
If implemented, it will be the first audit into the SMOE since 2007.
Later on Tuesday, the ministry filed charges against liberal superintendents at education offices in North Jeolla and Gyeonggi provinces for refusing to follow a ministry directive on how to handle violent students.
The ministry earlier instructed regional educational offices to revise guidelines for elementary and secondary schools so that they can document penalties for bullying on school records. However, the liberal superintendents — Kim Seung-hwan and Kim Sang-gon — rejected the instruction, insisting that the government was only focusing on punishing bullies, instead of taking fundamental measures to reduce violence.
The ministry conducted special audits into the liberal-controlled education offices and filed lawsuits against 26 people, including the two superintendents, for neglect of duty and abuse of authority. It also demanded disciplinary measures against 80 other officials.
Observers say the ideological conflict between educational policymakers with different political backgrounds may escalate further as the election approaches.
The ministry and liberal-controlled education offices have often clashed over various school-related policies, throwing schools into confusion.