Superintendent of Bureau of Education on the “Future of Korea & Innovative Seoul Education”

Superintendent, Cho Hee-yeon

On the 30th of March at Seoul Office of Education took place a special lecture (“Future of Korea & Innovative Seoul Education”) by Superintendent of Education, Cho Hee-yeon, on Korean education system. Around thirty Asian journalists attended the workshop to know more about the education system in Korea.

During the first part of the lecture, the Superintendent of Education explained the features of the current school system: it is an authoritarian and hierarchical paradigm based on memorization of knowledge and high results. The consequence of this structure is that students are stressed and unhappy. As a result, the goal is to reform the current system introducing a democratic system based on creativity, education equality and only-one education (each student is different and needs different criteria). In order to achieve this goal, the Superintendent of Education suggested some new standards to follow such as global citizenship education, parents’ association in each school, educational cooperation between Seoul Office of Education and Seoul Government, gap year for students and many more.

The second part of the conference was focus on an open discussion among journalists and the Superintendent of Education. One journalist asked about the scholarship system in the country: each University has shares to involve foreign students. Another one also asked why there are many Koreans studying abroad: most of them are out of the nation to improve their English level, Superintendent of Education declared.

-Alessandra Bonanomi, Reporter for The AsiaN