Private School Law Passage Will Face Constitutional Appeal

Private school organizations, including the Korean Private School Corporation Association, held a “National Teachers Rally against Private School Law and Education Law’s Revision for the Worse” at Seoul Train Station Square at 2:00 p.m. on November 7 and asked for a repeal of the revision bill of the private school law. There were 9,000 participants including principals, deans of colleges, department heads, directors of private school foundations, and other members present.

Private schools said in their resolution, “We feel ashamed that corruption practiced by some private schooling entities is still present, and we will keep working on self-purification process,” adding, “However, the Uri Party is deceiving the people, saying that the revision of the Private School Law is a reformist bill, when in reality, it is killing healthy private schools under the pretext of a small minority of corrupted schools.

They also claimed, “The private school founders were secured legally minimal basic rights to realize their founding spirits. Therefore, if the nation violates these, we will ask for compensation for it.” They emphasized that they will respond with a “Legal Non-Surrender Resistance Movement” through applying for a provisional injunction of revocation and filing a constitutional appeal if the revision of the private school law is passed in the National Assembly.

They also said, “We will also put out a movement for private school basic rights protection by appealing to international human rights organizations with the cooperation of private school organizations in educationally advanced countries.”

In-Chul Lee Se-Jin Jung inchul@donga.com mint4a@donga.com