Cheon Ha-ram (right), floor leader of the Reform Party, poses for a photo after announcing a campaign pledge with Busan mayoral candidate Jeong Yi-han on April 26 at Yeonje Futsal Stadium in Busan’s Yeonje District to build a response system for malicious complaints in education. [Photo=Reform Party]
Cheon Ha-ram, floor leader of the Reform Party, visited Yeonje Futsal Stadium in Busan’s Yeonje District on April 26 and said, “A city where children don’t run and play has no future. We will fix, through institutions, the reality of education being damaged by malicious complaints.”
Cheon made the remarks while visiting the venue with Busan mayoral candidate Jeong Yi-han, pointing to what he said was a widespread practice of elementary schools banning soccer during lunch breaks.
“When I first heard that elementary schools were banning soccer at lunchtime, I thought it would be extremely rare,” Cheon said. “But after looking into it, it amounts to 312 schools nationwide.” He claimed Busan was the worst case, saying 105 schools — 34.6% of the city’s 303 elementary schools — prohibit soccer.
Cheon said the bans reflect a lack of systems to deal with malicious complaints, calling it a “failure of politics” to prevent a loud minority from disrupting schools.
“We will correct the reality in which the education of the majority is harmed by malicious complaints,” he said. “Schoolyards should not be sterile rooms where only the dust of complaints piles up; they should be a ‘huge growth plate’ where children grow.”
Jeong proposed overhauling complaint-handling so teachers do not have to shoulder it directly. He also pledged stronger institutional support to protect teachers from disputes or lawsuits arising during educational activities.
Jeong said he would work with the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education to create conditions that guarantee children’s physical activity and experiential learning. “We will answer not with politics that waits, but with politics that solves problems on the ground,” he said. “We will return Busan’s education to normal.”
Cheon made the remarks while visiting the venue with Busan mayoral candidate Jeong Yi-han, pointing to what he said was a widespread practice of elementary schools banning soccer during lunch breaks.
“When I first heard that elementary schools were banning soccer at lunchtime, I thought it would be extremely rare,” Cheon said. “But after looking into it, it amounts to 312 schools nationwide.” He claimed Busan was the worst case, saying 105 schools — 34.6% of the city’s 303 elementary schools — prohibit soccer.
Cheon said the bans reflect a lack of systems to deal with malicious complaints, calling it a “failure of politics” to prevent a loud minority from disrupting schools.
“We will correct the reality in which the education of the majority is harmed by malicious complaints,” he said. “Schoolyards should not be sterile rooms where only the dust of complaints piles up; they should be a ‘huge growth plate’ where children grow.”
Jeong proposed overhauling complaint-handling so teachers do not have to shoulder it directly. He also pledged stronger institutional support to protect teachers from disputes or lawsuits arising during educational activities.
Jeong said he would work with the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education to create conditions that guarantee children’s physical activity and experiential learning. “We will answer not with politics that waits, but with politics that solves problems on the ground,” he said. “We will return Busan’s education to normal.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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