Lee urges preventive education, active responses; vows to step up college reforms


The start of 2012 was hectic for Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, after a spate of student suicides widely blamed on school bullying.

Determined to root out recurrent school violence, Lee pledged to make sweeping changes to how schools and society deal with it. For the past few weeks, he has been busy collecting ideas and suggestions from students, teachers, parents and experts.

Saying school violence was related to diverse social factors requiring interest from all of society, he said that he would never let up in pushing anti-bullying programs until school violence is eliminated.

“Measures against school violence have been proposed and executed every time it moved into the media spotlight, but have fallen by the wayside over time. As a result, it has become a recurring problem,” Lee told The Korea Herald. “This time, we will eradicate the problem by any means.”

He stressed the importance of preventive education, and said that he would involve both students and parents in education sessions on school violence. He also said that the ministry would work out detailed manuals for teachers.

“All measures to get rid of school violence should be coordinated along with an ongoing nationwide campaign for a change of view on school violence and an active, cooperative tackling of the problem,” Lee said.

In recent meetings on the issue, he has stressed that school violence should be treated as a crime. Citing a successful nationwide campaign against sexual harassment, he said that school violence could be dealt with effectively in a similar way. 

“We should never ignore minor violence that happens daily,” he said.

Teachers are most important in resolving school violence and their passion is vital, he said.

“Even so, we can’t just leave the problem up to teachers alone. Every member of society should roll up their sleeves to fight school violence, while treating all students like their children. It takes society and all related agencies to deal with it.”

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs could work out medical treatment programs for victims, as well as joining with the Ministry of Gender Equality in counseling both bullies and victims, he said.

One of the major achievements last year for the ministry was college reform focused on tuition fee cuts, which is expected to remain a key task this year.

“College reform is inevitable considering that student enrollment is on a steady decline due to the low birth rate. College restructuring will be accelerated this year with the aim of boosting the academic excellence of well-managed schools while weeding out underperforming ones,” he said.

College reform will be pushed in parallel with efforts to reduce tuition fees, he said. High tuition fees invited outcry from students and parents, with some staging candlelight vigils with politicians last year.

The ministry has this year set aside more funds to cut 25 percent off the average tuition fee for students from families in the lowest 70 percent income bracket.

“It will continue to push down college fees to the extent that students and parents will really feel less burdened,” Lee said.

The country has increased the number of native English teachers who will teach speaking and writing at primary and secondary schools. But two major municipalities, Seoul Metropolitan Government and Gyeonggi Provincial Government, cut the payroll budget for this year. As a result, 255 native English teachers in high schools are unlikely to see their contracts renewed upon expiration and budget cuts are expected for elementary and middle schools in Seoul next year.

“It may not be right to drastically reduce the number of native English teachers, but considering the high English proficiency of young Korean teachers, the demand for native English teachers has been reduced,” Lee said.

“The matter should be dealt with according to each school’s needs.”

Turning to education globalization, one of his key policy areas for higher education, he pointed to a regional joint degree program which involves prestigious universities in South Korea, China and Japan.

“We have plans to further broaden academic exchanges with European countries through such education cooperation programs as Industrialized Countries Instrument Education Cooperation Program and Erasmus Mundus,” he said.

The ministry also nurtures globally minded college students through the government-sponsored worldwide internship program.

Korea has set a good example in the field of education, envied by other countries for students’ excellence in mathematics and natural sciences. Its students marked high scholastic performance in the Program for International Student Assessment among 15 year olds in OECD member countries.

“Korean students were lauded by U.S. President Barack Obama for their zeal for learning,” Lee said.

The ministry has prepared to host the APEC Education Ministerial Meeting in May, taking it as a good opportunity to show the world its educational achievements. Lee is keen to present notable policies such as the adoption of high-tech equipment including digital textbooks in the classroom.

“We look forward to sharing our education experience with member countries and hopefully we will be a model of novel ways of education,” said Lee.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)