By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Presidential nominee Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (GNP) pledged Tuesday to strengthen public education so that high school graduates can communicate freely in English with foreigners.
His visions for strong public education contained both carrot and stick measures for schools as well as teachers.
Lee, 65, said that if he is elected president he will implement measures to cut household spending on private education by half of the current level through strengthening English education at public schools.
``English education accounts for half of the household spending on private education,'' he said.
The former Seoul mayor proposes introducing English immersion programs and an English teacher certificate to help teachers improve language proficiency. About 3,000 teachers will be cultivated so that they can conduct classes in English. He also pledged to give universities full freedom in picking freshmen.
Experts said that Koreans spend an estimated 30 trillion won on private education per year. About 15 trillion won is spent for private English lessons annually.
The presidential nominee plans to cut private spending by upgrading the quality of public school programs.
The GNP nominee said that his team will map out diverse policies to make sure that no children are left behind in school.
Competition and incentives are at the heart of his policy packages.
According to his plan, elementary school students will be required to be tested on their academic ability and secondary school students will take standardized tests on their academic achievement.
The data will be used for tailored after-school programs for those students failing to meet academic standards and for also evaluating schools.
Lee also promised to make public the academic achievements of each school so that public schools can compete for better academic results.
Competition will also be encouraged between teachers and schools. Lee pledged to introduce a variety of incentives for high-performing teachers and adopt a sabbatical year for teachers every five to 10 years.
Apart from the compensation plan, public schools will be required to evaluate their teachers on a regular basis to secure quality education.