Jeong Geun-sik: "I will urge legislation to prevent preemptive learning"

[Financial News] Jeong Geun-sik, the Seoul Education Superintendent, announced on the 11th through SNS that he would urge legislation to protect students' mental health and prevent excessive preemptive learning, while delivering a message regarding the recent 'student suicide incident at a cram school building'.
Superintendent Jeong said, "Regarding the incident where a student took their own life at a cram school building in Seoul, I feel deep sorrow and a heavy sense of responsibility as the superintendent."
He added, "We will conduct joint inspections of areas with a high concentration of cram schools with the 11 education support offices and the Student Human Rights Education Center." He also added, "We will strengthen training for cram school operators to prevent excessive preemptive learning and inhumane promotions."
In addition, he mentioned the legislative push to establish grounds for handling advertisements that raise concerns about human rights violations in the 'Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons'. Superintendent Jeong stated, "To this end, we will join forces with civil society, the political world, and academia," and "The Seoul Education Community will take the lead in creating exemplary cases of student mental health."
Prior to this, he said, "While the wounds on the blue hearts of students have been festering so deeply, what have our society and education been doing? We reflect and reflect again."
He continued, "We are well aware that this tragedy is closely related to the overheated competition that constantly wounds the hearts of future generations."
He also noted, "We are also well aware that some cram schools' extreme marketing activities have fueled this," and "There are often cases of advertisements that encourage excessive competition and ranking in the cram school industry." He added, "It is common to expose students' personal information or to encourage blind preference for certain professions and schools."
Regarding this, he criticized, "Private education companies also have a duty to cooperate with schools and local communities to promote the healthy growth of our students," and "If some private education companies end up harming rather than promoting students' health, both physically and mentally, it is a clear abandonment of educational responsibility."
He further stated, "Advertising activities that encourage discrimination based on test score differences and promote disregard and hatred for the weak violate the principles of human rights guaranteed by our constitution."
In this regard, he emphasized, "The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will do everything possible to protect the mental health of our students and correct the inappropriate actions of some private education companies."

monarch@fnnews.com Kim Man-gi Reporter