Opening of 2 special ed schools postponed

By Kim Hyun-bin

Parents are outraged over the delay in the opening of two special ed schools in Seoul.

The schools _ Seojin in Gangseo-gu and Narae in Gangnam-gu _ were to open next March but this has been postponed to September 2019.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said the delay was due to blueprint changes in construction, but many parents of disabled children believe the setback is politically motivated before the local elections in June.

Seojin school sparked a national debate after a video clip featured parents of disabled children kneeling in front of their neighbors in western Seoul who opposed the construction.

In the video, a mother, Jang Min-hee, 46, is seen kneeling in front of an angry crowd of Gangseo-gu residents who refused to give consent to the project.

Since 2013, residents in the district have been in conflict after SMOE said it would open the school. The residents feared the school would affect property prices. Instead, they wanted a herbal medical hospital.

SOME said expanding the school was also a reason for the delay and that it will have 22 classes, covering elementary to high school. Under the original plan, the school would have had only 16 classes covering just middle and high schools.

Narae school, which is in a development restriction zone in southern Seoul, needed approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. But this took longer than expected, SMOE said.

The parents also complained that they were not told of the postponement.

“I was just counting the days for the construction to begin, but it has suddenly been postponed,” a parent of a child with a disability said. “I believe the government did this on purpose due to the local election coming up in June.”

Another mother said: “SMOE did not intend to make us aware of the construction delay. I was informed of the postponement through a random visit to the office. If I had not visited, we would have been oblivious to the fact.”