A public forum has been launched to establish the concept and direction of 'basic education,' which aims to guarantee universal rights beyond the traditional framework of compulsory education that begins at age 7. This initiative includes early childhood education for children aged 3 to 5, lifelong learning for out-of-school youth, immigrant parents, and retired seniors.
Under the premise that public education must ensure not just a minimum but a foundational guarantee of basic skills, mental health, civic coexistence, and critical thinking in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the Seoul Education Office collaborated with legal and educational experts.
On November 10, the Seoul Education Office held the 'Second Public Forum on Future Education in Seoul' in the audiovisual room of its headquarters in Jongno-gu. The forum focused on discussing the theoretical background and policy intersections of 'basic education,' a key topic for Jeong Geun-sik's second term as Superintendent (2026-2030).
In his opening remarks, Superintendent Jeong stated that three fundamental questions encountered in the past two years led to the emergence of the concept of 'basic education.' He said, "The concept encompasses issues such as mental health crises, the need to redefine the value of educational foundations, and lifelong education in the AI era. We aim to continuously refine this concept with the entire educational community and enrich the content of basic education in a practical manner through today's discussions."
In the first expert presentation, Professor Lim Jae-hong from Korea National Open University defined basic education as a universal educational service that the state must provide to all citizens without discrimination, from the perspective of constitutional rights and international human rights treaties.
He noted that while South Korea has achieved a world-leading level of educational access in terms of higher education enrollment rates, it has regressed in terms of prohibiting educational discrimination based on academic performance and social status, particularly for marginalized groups such as people with disabilities and immigrants.
Lim pointed out that 86% of the public perceives serious issues with university rankings, and the astronomical spending on private education, estimated at 27.5 trillion won (over 30 trillion won when including unofficial costs), distorts the national economy.
He proposed several educational reforms to realize a basic society, including: expanding free education from early childhood to higher education (including national universities and extending to private institutions), implementing lifelong education that includes retraining for youth in the AI era, enacting a 'School Origin Discrimination Prevention Law' with provisions for genuine correction orders and penalties, and ratifying the UNESCO 'Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in Education' (which currently has 110 member countries, with South Korea not yet a member).
He emphasized, "The UNESCO Convention clearly defines educational privileges or exclusions based on parents' economic conditions as discrimination. The reality that private education costs influence admission to prestigious universities and social status must be recognized as unacceptable discrimination, and the state must actively address this issue."
Additionally, he urged the provision of free educational AI tools and devices at schools to prevent algorithmic bias in the upcoming essay evaluations and AI grading processes, as well as the establishment of grievance procedures for students regarding review and re-evaluation rights.
In the second presentation, Professor Yoo Seong-sang from Seoul National University discussed 'basic education as foundational competencies for a dignified life,' challenging existing meritocratic and mastery learning paradigms.
He criticized the South Korean education system for viewing students merely as future labor market supplies through the lens of human capital theory and for being trapped in a framework that aims to achieve uniform knowledge acquisition.
Despite high rankings in quantitative achievement indicators like the PISA assessments, he noted that students' life satisfaction and adult literacy rates are low, leading to a 'tyranny of meritocracy' that creates arrogance among winners and humiliation among losers.
Yoo proposed the theoretical alternatives of the 'capability approach' by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and political philosopher Martha Nussbaum. He stated, "We must ask whether our children are currently living dignified lives and whether they have real choices to pursue their aspirations. The 'basic' in basic education should not merely mean formal equality of opportunity or quantitative job functions but should guarantee each child's ability to choose and live a valuable life, representing 'substantive freedom' and 'minimum competencies.'"
Furthermore, he suggested that education should evolve from being a public good unilaterally provided by the state to a concept of common goods, where students, teachers, parents, and the community collaboratively manage and take responsibility for education, thus creating a safe democratic republic where schools can retry after failures.
In the third presentation, Ham Young-ki, the policy planning director of the Seoul Education Office, introduced a provisional concept of basic education developed through discussions with the pledge promotion committee and research teams. He outlined the 'Seoul Education Vision' (basic education for all, happy cooperative education) and five policy directions to connect this concept to actual policy design.
Ham diagnosed the coexistence of schools facing closure due to urban decline and overcrowded classes near newly built complexes as 'spatial polarization,' alongside 'learning and emotional gaps' based on family backgrounds, which the Seoul education system must address.
He explained that despite a 94.3% enrollment rate, early childhood education remains outside public guarantees, and approximately 170,000 out-of-school youth have disappeared from the public education radar. To fill these gaps, he advocated for extending the boundaries of existing compulsory and free education to encompass lifelong 'basic education.'
Ham proposed restructuring existing policies from the perspective of basic education under the indicators of 'starting tightly, ensuring solid foundations, and diversifying growth,' including: future-oriented holistic education that fosters creativity and empathy, accountable education that guarantees learning for all, sustainable democratic citizenship education, shared educational welfare, and safe and peaceful educational communities.
Following the thematic presentations, a panel discussion was held, moderated by Professor Kim Han-na from Chongshin University, with Superintendent Jeong Geun-sik, Honorary Professor Kang Nam-hoon from Hanshin University, Professor Lim Jae-hong, Professor Yoo Seong-sang, Principal Jeong Yong-joo from Seoul Cheonwang Elementary School, and Policy Planning Director Ham Young-ki participating in an in-depth discussion and Q&A on the establishment and implementation of the concept of basic education.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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