Gyeonggi Province Superintendent An Min-seok Expresses Strong Commitment to Accepting 'Teachers' 100 Demands'

Superintendent An Min-seok of Gyeonggi Province received the Gyeonggi Teachers' Labor Union's '100 Demands from On-site Teachers for Comprehensive Transformation of Unreasonable School Environments' at the Provincial Office on the 15th.

The handover ceremony was attended by Chae Yu-gyeong, Chairperson of the Gyeonggi Teachers' Labor Union, Lee Hyun-joo, Senior Vice Chairperson, Lee Yu-jin, Director of Policy, Kim Hyun-sook, Director of Early Childhood and Special Education, and Kim Jeong-seo, Director of Elementary Education Policy.

The demands were formulated as a follow-up measure to the 'Teachers' Rights Forum' held on July 23rd. The Gyeonggi Teachers' Labor Union stated that it conducted a survey involving approximately 800 on-site teachers during the vacation period and identified issues through the union's task discovery process, ultimately presenting 100 practical improvement tasks that need to be resolved in both short-term and mid-to-long-term bases.

The 100 demands are composed of five areas: △Protection of Educational Activities and Guarantee of Teachers' Rights △Simplification of Administrative Tasks for Teachers △Improvement of Teachers' Treatment and Working Conditions △Guarantee of Teachers' Expertise and School Democracy △Improvement of Educational Environment to Enhance Education Quality.

In particular, the union presented measures to protect teachers' rights, including amendments to three teacher protection laws (Child Welfare Act, Child Abuse Punishment Act, and Teachers' Status Act), teacher protection measures against safety accidents, and establishment of an integrated responsibility system for teacher protection units. Additionally, it presented immediately achievable administrative task simplification measures such as separating internal device and equipment management and CCTV installation and operation duties, and transferring transfer and admission management to local government administrative welfare centers.

At the handover ceremony, Superintendent An presented improvement directions for each area of the 100 demands. Regarding teacher protection, Superintendent An stated, "We are currently focused on restoring teachers' rights, and we expect that the 'Teacher Protection Unit Ordinance' will be passed in the Gyeonggi Province Council's Education and Administration Committee soon, which will provide institutional grounds." He added, "The teacher protection unit will be a strong support for teachers, and we will continue to communicate with the National Assembly to amend the three teacher protection laws."

The Gyeonggi Province Office of Education plans to monitor and implement the fulfillment of the 100 demands through continued consultation with the Gyeonggi Teachers' Labor Union and to create a school environment where teachers can focus entirely on educational activities.