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| Candidate for Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Lee Ju-ho, left, answers a reporter's question after arriving at Korea Institute of Educational Facility Safety in Yeouido, Seoul, Sept. 30, to prepare for his qualification hearing. Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is looking to reinstate former Education Minister Lee Ju-ho to the post he served from 2010 to 2013 in the former Lee Myung-bak administration. The position has been vacant since the previous picks made after Yoon's inauguration in May either withdrew before the National Assembly's confirmation hearing, in the first case, or resigned after just weeks due to a backlash against her past drunk-driving record, in the second.
The choice of candidate Lee is raising both hopes and worries. Having worked at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Sejong Special Self-Governing City as a researcher and professor since 1991, he is well-known for his innovative education drives during his times as minister and vice-minister from 2009 to 2010 as well as presidential secretary under Lee Myung-bak in 2008. One of his policies was the introduction of autonomous private high schools and "meister" high schools to better cater to a broader range of students and teach them skills in high demand by employers. But how he had allocated the national budget to different schools was considered unfair and aroused controversy. He had also supported combining the education ministry with the science and technology ministry.
Last April, he declared his intention to run in the election in June for superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. He pledged to lower parents' expenses in private after-school education to half by introducing more affordable after-school programs. He also pledged to introduce AI instructors in the classes of every elementary, middle and high school in the country. However, he dropped out of the race, calling for a single candidacy among the conservative candidates.
With his education and professional credentials mainly in the economic field, Lee, who was also a lawmaker in the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008, pushed for streamlined efficiency in education according to economic logic. He voiced the needs to downsize the education ministry and expand the role of the deputy prime minister ― two positions served by the same person simultaneously ― to give local universities more free rein under the central government and thus increase their productivity and performance. Rather than equity and the affordability of public education for all, Lee is considered better suited for educational excellence and the deregulation of schools and investing more in top-percentile students to maximize their skills.
In simpler terms, critics said Lee endorses market ideology over educational values. His main principles, they said, appear to be "competition" and "freedom."
Concerns are brewing within the education ministry that if Lee gets appointed, the ministry will inevitably be downsized. There are also worries that the candidate's economics-centric view won't respect the voices of officials and teachers in the education field.
Others worried that the Yoon administration seems to be focusing on a narrow talent pool for filling the position. "How shallow must the pool be to resuscitate a person who already served as the education minister more than 10 years ago?" an official from the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations reportedly said. "Because demands from the educational environment have been evolving, the incoming minister shouldn't blindly push forward his own beliefs."
When the Assembly's qualification hearing on Lee will take place remains undecided as of Monday. For now, the education ministry faces a three-week audit by the National Assembly starting Tuesday. One lawmaker from the National Assembly's Education Committee reportedly said that it would be difficult to hold the hearing while conducting the audit at the same time.
