"AI Textbook Retraction is Abandoning the Future"... Over 5,000 Rally in Front of National Assembly

[Financial News] The education sector, which has been continuing relay protests against the demotion of the legal status of the AI Digital Textbook (AIDT), held a large-scale rally in front of the National Assembly on the 21st, urging the government to withdraw its unilateral policy change.
The rally was attended by over 5,000 people, including the chairman of the Textbook Development Committee, representatives of publishers, EduTech company executives and employees, and field teachers. Attendees strongly opposed the government's move to virtually strip AIDT of its legal status, ignoring the trend of digital transformation in public education, and demanded a comprehensive review of the policy shift.
The rally continued with opening remarks, on-site speeches by EduTech representatives, teacher interview videos, and the reading of a resolution. Park Jeong and Cheonjae Textbook representatives stated, "What is needed now is not the passage of a bill, but objective verification and improvement," and questioned why the government, which proclaimed itself as an AI powerhouse, is trying to regress technology only in the education sector.
Heo Bo-uk, CEO of Visang Education Content Company, explained, "We have been dedicated to development in line with national policy for three years, and AIDT is not just a simple technology but a teaching tool that reconnects teachers and students." He particularly mentioned cases of restoring the learning rights of disabled students, emphasizing that "AIDT is a platform that brings students who were pushed out of the classroom back in front of textbooks."
Participants shouted slogans such as "The solution to closing the educational gap and reducing private education costs is AIDT" and "We want dialogue. AIDT is the foundation of the country's future education."
Hyun Jun-woo, CEO of Ice Cream Media, who read the resolution, criticized, "AIDT is not just a textbook with AI features attached, but an inclusive platform that provides fair educational opportunities to students with disabilities, students in marginalized areas, and students from multicultural families," and "It is a neglect of policy responsibility to scrap a national strategic project, which involved 1.2 trillion won of national funds and 800 billion won from the private sector, just six months after implementation."
They officially proposed △ extending the AIDT school pilot use by one year △ forming a public-private-political digital education policy consultative body, emphasizing, "Policies should not be overturned just because politics have changed. We must jointly verify and improve the future of public education."

jimnn@fnnews.com Shin Ji-min Reporter