Revision of Local Education System Proposed

A special committee for local education system improvement, sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MOE), recommended that governors and the mayors of the six largest cities should appoint the heads of local education departments and that the existing 180 local education departments should be integrated to 59. The MOE plans to open a public hearing before it presents this revised bill before the National Assembly.
According to the revisions, governors will appoint the heads of education departments with approval of the provincial congress. Under existing law, heads of education departments are elected by the electoral college from the School Operation Committee and the teacher's associations. Requirements for the job will also change from five years experience as a teacher to more than 10 years in the education field including educational administration and research. Cho Chang Hyun, the head of this special committee said, 'Local governments will make more efforts in education development with this revision.'