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Elections will be held on July 30 to choose Seoul's new education superintendent, while voters in North Jeolla Province will choose their new education superintendent on July 23. Residents of South Chungcheong Province chose their new education superintendent last month, while Daejeon elects one in December and Gyeonggi Province in April of next year. These superintendents will serve until June of 2010. That's because starting in 2010, these elections will take place simultaneously with local elections. In 2006, Korea's law on provincial education was revised, allowing residents to elect their own superintendents of education.
The problem is low voter interest. Elections to choose an education superintendent in Busan saw a mere 15.3 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots, and just 17.2 percent for South Chungcheong Province in a vote held last month. But the position should not be viewed lightly. The Seoul education superintendent controls 60,000 teaching staff and a W6 trillion (US$1=W1,006) budget, and is responsible for the education of 1.48 million elementary, middle and high school students. Depending on who fills that position, key education policies are decided, such as the distribution of new students to high schools, the establishment of specialized high schools, early morning classes and the sharing of data on scholastic achievements.
The reason direct voting was allowed to select superintendents was to reflect the views of parents in the administration of educational affairs. In the previous indirect election system to choose education superintendents, school steering committees composed of parents, regional officials and teachers, were given voting rights. As schools selected members of steering committees, teachers ended up calling the shots and superintendents ended up being more concerned about the welfare of teachers than tuning into the needs of parents. As a result, policies catered to the needs of teachers rather than students.
But if voter interest remains this low then candidates will be able to get elected by mobilizing their own groups of supporters, and this will end up damaging the very reason direct voting has been allowed. In Seoul in particular, where seven out of eight candidates are against the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, it is highly likely that a union-supporting candidate will be elected since supporters of non-union candidates would be divided.
The candidate with the backing of the KTEWU opposes a system where students get to choose their own high schools, since this could lead to certain schools being favored over others. Right now, high schools in Seoul are busy getting ready for the implementation of the system in 2010 where students get to choose their own high schools. In order to make themselves more appealing, high schools in Seoul are reforming their education programs by conducting satisfaction surveys, allowing students to choose extracurricular classes and offering chances for students to meet with famous writers. The KTEWU candidate is also opposed to any evaluations of teachers, offering different classes to students according to academic levels and revealing the academic levels of students. In short, the KTEWU candidate does not want to implement any measures that would make life harder for teachers.
Voters should scrutinize which candidate is interested in improving schools and education programs by siding with parents and express their support through their votes.
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