By Jun Ji-hye
The government and the ruling Saenuri Party Tuesday agreed to introduce free education for high schools on gradual basis from next year.
Rep. Kim Hee-jung of the ruling party said schools in rural areas will be the first beneficiaries of the new policy, which will be extended to all high schools from 2017.
“To alleviate parents’ concerns over high education fees, the party alongside the government and Cheong Wa Dae decided to first offer free education to students living on islands and remote areas,” Kim said during a briefing.
“The number of beneficiaries will increase every year by 25 percent to benefit the nation’s high school students by 2017.”
Kim made the briefing emerging from a meeting of officials from Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Education and the Saenuri Party to discuss educational issues. Free high school education was one of President Park Geun-hye’s key presidential campaign pledges.
Rep. Kim proposed a bill at the end of April to revise the Education Law in a bid to implement free high school education.
In the meeting, the ministry called for an increase of the government budget, saying it anticipates that about 9 trillion won ($8.1 billion) would be needed to enable the envisaged free education scheme.
The three-party meeting also agreed to a system to guarantee a permanent position for those who have worked at schools for a year as a part time teacher.
Kim elaborated they will further discuss matters on the possible inclusion of Korean history in college entrance exams, given the growing calls to strengthen nation’s history education following controversy over Japan’s repeated attempts to distort history in Northeast Asia.
The three sides also agreed to introduce a quota for graduates of universities in the vicinity of Seoul. The government plans to come up with legislation requiring employers to abide by rules when hiring their employees.
Rep. Kim said the government and the ruling party will push for a set of measures to empower the universities, featuring an increase of a government-sponsored research fund quota to 35 percent from the current 24 percent. “This is one of such measures designed to beef up local universities,” she said.
Participants in the trilateral meeting included Seo Nam-soo, education minister; Mo Chul-min, presidential secretary for education and cultural affairs; and Kim Gi-hyeon, head of the ruling party’s policy committee, along with Rep. Kim.
The proposed bill is expected to face a bumpy road in the ruling camp’s bid to make it effective, given the possible resistance due to the growing concern over the budget needed to implement the new policy.
The main opposition Democratic Party has been supportive of the idea of offering free education for high schools but has been citing the need to come up with details based on close consultations between the ruling and opposition parties.
The opposition party has been critical of what it termed to be a “populist policy” pursued by the Park administration.