[Legal Spotlight]➂ Crackdown on Unauthorized Educational Facilities Strengthened..."Institutional Improvement Is Needed More Than Punishment"

Points out the gap between the public-education-centered accreditation system and educational demand
"Institutional mechanisms to accommodate educational diversity must be prepared"

Amid the Ministry of Education and municipal and provincial offices of education recently announcing policies to strengthen management, such as special inspections and complaint measures against unauthorized educational facilities, an opinion has been raised that the problem is difficult to solve through a crackdown- and punishment-centered approach alone.

Attorney Kang Dong-hoon of Daeryun LLC noted on the 8th that the issue of unauthorized educational facilities should be viewed not as a simple legal violation but from the aspect of the gap between changing educational demand and the current legal system.

Attorney Kang diagnosed that although diverse educational demands such as overseas advancement and immersive foreign language education are increasing, the current education legal system still maintains a public-education-centered accreditation system. Accordingly, he said, a structure has formed in which educational models different from the existing school system find it difficult to be incorporated into the institutional framework.

The current Elementary and Secondary Education Act recognizes something as a school only when it meets the curriculum, facility standards, and teacher qualifications set by the state. For this reason, even if a facility is registered and operated as a private academy, if its actual mode of operation is similar to a school, it may be judged as the establishment of an unauthorized school.

Attorney Kang explained, "The Supreme Court maintains the position of regarding a case as having the substance of a school and punishing it when it accommodates students for a certain period and operates on a grade system, or conducts a systematic curriculum, life guidance, grade management, and the like."

However, he assessed that the current system carries the limitation of, rather than embracing diverse alternative education models within the institutional framework, effectively defining educational forms that do not fit the existing school system as unlawful.

He also cited as a problem that although the government operates an alternative school accreditation system, the financial requirements and the obligation to organize a domestic curriculum are strict, so facilities pursuing specialized international education or alternative education find it difficult to legally enter the institutional framework.

Attorney Kang mentioned that such a discussion also needs to be examined from the aspect of guaranteeing constitutional basic rights.

He explained, "The Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court recognize parents' right to educate their children and the right to choose a school as constitutional basic rights, and the autonomy and professionalism of education are also guaranteed by the Constitution."

He continued, "The act of choosing specialized education that public education cannot provide can also be understood as an extension of the exercise of basic rights," analyzing, "Criminally punishing all attempts at alternative education solely on the ground that they did not go through the administrative accreditation procedure could lead to controversy over a violation of the principle against excessive restriction."

He also diagnosed that the phenomenon of increasing unauthorized educational facilities needs to be seen not as a simple illegal-operation issue but as a result reflecting educational demand that public education has failed to satisfy.

Attorney Kang said, "The selection criteria and advancement paths of education consumers have already diversified, but the system does not sufficiently reflect this," adding, "A punishment-centered approach alone makes it difficult to fundamentally resolve realistic educational demand."

He explained, "Excessive regulation can induce the covert operation of educational facilities and, on the contrary, negatively affect the protection of learners' rights and interests," adding, "Institutional improvement should be made in a direction that broadly guarantees the autonomy of the curriculum while managing and supervising it under minimum legal standards."

He further held that, to protect both the diversity and the public nature of the educational field together, legal and institutional reform focused on the substantive guarantee of learners' rights, rather than on control, is needed.

Reporter Jeong Ye-jin yejin0311@inews24.com

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[Legal Spotlight]➂ Crackdown on Unauthorized Educational Facilities Strengthened..."Institutional Improvement Is Needed More Than Punishment" (Go to link)