[Editorial] Excess Enthusiasm Cause School without Classrooms

There is the absurdity that newly opened schools have not prepared classrooms yet. According to the government`s project to improve the educational environment, 250 elementary, junior high and high schools were scheduled to open for the new semester, but some of them are still under construction.

New students assigned to these new schools should share the classrooms of neighboring schools. The plan of the education authority to improve the quality of education by lowering the allotment of students in a classroom resulted in damaging the quality of education in other schools.

It is basically due to the excessive enthusiasm of President Kim Dae-Jung, who tried to decrease the allotment of students in a classroom to 35 persons from current 42.7 persons. Political impatience that seeks prominent result during his term just causes confusion and bad effects in the educational field. The government is pushing forward what should be promoted calmly, considering various conditions rather than justifying it as Presidential instructions and causing delays in construction as a consequence.

Of course, it is required to lower the number of students per class to secure substantiality in education. It is the case that in our education system the density of student population per class is rather high compared to that of advanced industrialized countries.

But constructing new schools and adding classrooms onto the school seem to be promoted too rashly. The existing schools became construction sites. Class atmosphere is damaged with noise from everywhere, and some schools stopped construction due to parents` protest. Some schools lack building sites, so they build new classrooms on the playground, green area or rooftop, or they remodel the gymnasium or laboratory into classrooms.

Is the `35 students in a class` so urgent as to make all these sacrifices? Recruiting teachers is also an issue.

The Ministry of Education authorities should prepare general and systematic measures to improve educational environments from the long-term standpoint, ignoring the term of the President. It should not treat educational matters, which are plans that reach out 100 years ahead, as if they were military operations that require quick completion.