“From Child Safety to School Assignments” Thoroughly Reviewed…Incheon City Council Education Committee Passes 12 Ordinances and Agenda Items

The Incheon Metropolitan City Council Education Committee (Chairman Lee Yong-chang) has initiated a focused review covering all educational issues, from child safety education to school assignment problems arising from administrative district reorganisation.

On the 29th, the Incheon City Council Education Committee reviewed and passed a total of 12 agenda items, including 4 ordinances, 2 notices, and 6 agreements on private consignment, during the activities of the ‘306th Temporary Session’ Standing Committee, and listened to 23 reports on private consignment.

In this meeting, the Education Committee passed ordinances closely related to students' real lives as originally drafted.

The passed ordinances include △Ordinance on Education for the Purchase and Use of Children’s Products △Partial Amendment to the Special Education Promotion Ordinance △Partial Amendment to the Ordinance on the Composition and Operation of City School Management Committees △Partial Amendment to the City School Establishment Ordinance, among others. In particular, it is evaluated that a legal basis has been established to address the blind spots in educational welfare, such as strengthening support for child product safety education and special education beneficiaries.

Follow-up measures related to the administrative district reorganisation in Incheon City in July will also be accelerated. The Education Committee passed the original draft of the Incheon High School School District Notice Amendment and the designation and lottery method amendment for middle school districts and middle school zones.

However, the Education Committee added a condition for the fairness of student assignments by region. They presented a ‘conditional opinion’ stating that if, after the reorganisation of the joint school district, students from Yeonsu District are assigned to areas outside the district based on the annual assignment results, the relevant notice should be re-examined, demanding careful management from the executive branch.

In the field of private consignment, agreements on 6 practical support projects in the education field, including survival swimming practical education, operation of home-type (Wee) centres, and student mental health management, were passed.

Chairman Lee Yong-chang of the Education Committee stated, “We must thoroughly comply with relevant laws and ordinances regarding private consignment agreements and reports,” and added, “In particular, to ensure transparency in administration, detailed guidelines should be established to complete procedures before budget preparation in the future.” He further requested, “Please ensure that the processed agenda items are effectively implemented in the education field.”