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Beginning no sooner than 2009, parents in Seoul will be able to demand an audit of schools to check for corruption or irregularities. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on Tuesday said it is working out a comprehensive plan to prevent corruption, with the focus on parents' rights to demand audits.
Under the new system, it will take a certain number of parents to demand an audit of schools or the metropolitan office of education to find out if they have violated laws or engaged in corrupt practices against the public interest. The system is similar to a citizen audit request system of the Board of Audit and Inspection or Seoul City.
Teachers who are suspected of receiving monetary gifts or schools collecting donations illegally are the likeliest targets of parents' audit.
The policy was suggested by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to improve standards after it ranked at the bottom in a "cleanlinessĦħ evaluation by the Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption for three consecutive years among a total of 16 municipal and provincial offices of education.
The Seoul education office plans to draft a decree by the end of this year after gathering opinions in public hearings. It will likely go into effect as early as next year after it is reviewed by the Seoul Metropolitan Board of Education and approved by the Seoul Metropolitan Council.
Koo Hyo-joong, an audit officer at the Seoul education office, said, "We are going to reach a decision after carefully considering who and what should be audited and how the audit should be conducted. Views are evenly divided between those concerned about the risk of the rights of students and teachers being violated if parents excessively demand audit of schools, and those calling for an early introduction of the system because such an audit is a natural right of education consumers."
Some experts say it will also be possible to audit key education matters, including curricula and students' performance.
Lee Myung-hee, a professor at Kongju National University, said, "In recent days, advanced countries such as the U.S., the U.K., France and Japan have been pushing education reform through parents' active intervention. Parents, who are primarily responsible for their children's education, have the natural rights to find out what is wrong with schools or education authorities."
They say it will be necessary to prevent parents from demanding audits gratuitously by imposing restrictions on the auditing requests and process, and to avoid negative effects such as demoralizing teachers or wasting educational resources.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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