Seoul superintendent’s ouster rattles education circle

Everyone in the education sector on Thursday said they were sorry and concerned about what the future holds. All were concerned about different matters, however.

The firing of Kwak No-hyun, 58, as superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education due to a bribery conviction heralds the resumption of conflict and confusion in Korean education. Critics say his leftist experiments in the field have caused great confusion for teachers, students and parents for the past 26 months.

The Supreme Court of Korea upheld a lower court`s sentence of one year in prison for Kwak Thursday for giving 200 million won (180,000 U.S. dollars) to Park Myeong-gi, 54, a professor at Seoul National University of Education who dropped out of the election for superintendent in June 2010 in return for the money. Because the election result was nullified because of the decision, Kwak lost his superintendent position. He will go to prison Friday to serve his remaining prison term of eight months.

The Supreme Court said, “We acknowledge that the 200 million won was in return for the professor dropping his candidacy based on Kwak’s motivation as well as the details, methods and ways of the incident...Though Kwak claims that he gave the money to help the professor overcome economic difficulty, the main purpose of him giving the money was to have the professor drop his candidacy.”

The ruling also said current law that prohibits providing money or profit in return for withdrawal of candidacy did not violate the Constitution. The court upheld a lower court`s sentence of one year and six months and a fine of 200 million won for Kwak.

On Kang Kyung-sun, 59, a professor at Korea National Open University, the court struck down a fine of 20 million won (18,000 dollars) and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, saying Kang delivered the money but "it shall not be interpreted that he did it in return for Park dropping his candidacy.”

Lee Dae-yeong will take over as acting superintendent until a by-election is held Dec. 19. Lee is expected to stop Kwak’s projects such as free school meals, an ordinance on student human rights and "innovative schools." It is uncertain whether free school meals will be extended to eighth graders next year because Lee is against implementing it with insufficient budget.

Schools are also expected to revise their regulations. With revisions to educational laws, superintendents lost the right to control school regulations but schools have refrained from making guidelines for student dress codes and hair length as well as indirect disciplinary measures.

The innovative school project faces a similar challenge. Kwak subsidized up to 200 million won per year to 59 schools to make 300 innovative schools in his term. Lee once mentioned that the subsidy was a privilege and that it might be reduced.

As a result, students, parents and teachers will experience more confusion and again if a superintendent with the opposite view is elected in December. One high school teacher said, “Laws on education must be consistent or nobody can know what to expect."

yena@donga.com jks@donga.com