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Private schools caved into government pressure on Sunday and abandoned a threat to admit no new students made in protest against a controversial law compelling them to fill a fourth of their boards with outsiders. That averts a potentially massive crisis for enrollment at the 11th hour.
But despite the climbdown, the government will push ahead with plans to launch a mass audit of private schools co-administered by the Ministry of Education and the Board of Audit and Inspection.
The association representing private middle and high schools issued a statement on Sunday saying, ¡°We rejected the new student rolls to protect private schools¡¯ basic rights such as choosing students and setting tuition fees. But to fulfill our duty as educators, we have decided to accept new students to be admitted this year.¡± It also apologized for causing public concern.
But the schools vowed to continue their campaign to get the private school law overturned or amended by all possible means since they say it is unconstitutional in undermining the fundamentals of a free democratic society and infringing on schools¡¯ basic rights. Earlier on Friday, five private schools in Jeju Island that had refused the roll of students allocated them for the new academic year decided to take part in the registration process after all.
Cheong Wa Dae and the government have put growing pressure on private schools, announcing a massive audit to ferret out corruption and publicly recruiting acting directors who would be parachuted into schools that refuse to cooperate.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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