Reallocated Students Will Be Allowed to Transfer

While many parents are still refusing to accept their children`s high school reallocation in the equalization are of the Metropolitan region, the Kyonggi Office of Education (KOE) decided yesterday to allow students` transfer within a school group in order to relieve their discontent of long-distance allocation.

Vice Superintendent Jang Gi-Won of the KOE announced yesterday, "The students who were allocated schools far from their homes can transfer to other schools after registering at the allotted schools. The KOE will not change this reallocation."

According to an enforcement ordinance of the elementary, junior high, and high schools education law, `transfer within a school group` requires a permission of the Superintendent of Education Office through a school principal`s recommendation when a student needs to change one`s educational environment. The transfer would relieve the students and parents` discontent of long-distance allocation.

Vice Superintendent Jang said, "All high schools in the area of a student`s graduated junior high school will be the object of transfer, and the transfer will be decided by random lot."

The Provincial Office of Education plans to announce its definition of `long-distance` in terms of the commuting distance and time and the transferring procedure through a consultation with the delegation of the parents in early next week.

The students who wish to transfer should register at the allotted schools, and then request their desire area in the beginning of March. If the students who were allocated to the Duksan High School in Buchon, which is still under construction, want to transfer, all of them can be transferred to other schools by the same method. However, the Provincial Office of Education announced that half of these students want to remain.

1,000 parents and students who are rallying for three days at the auditorium of the Provincial Office of Education building positively responded to the transferring plan.

Meanwhile, a special audit team of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development began an audit of the Provincial Office of Education focusing on high school reallocation at the main auditorium of the Provincial Office of Education building yesterday.

Superintendent Jo Seong-Yun of the KOE announced his will to resign and tendered his resignation to the Kyonggi Province Education Committee yesterday.

bibulus@donga.com