Who should be held responsible, and how, if a poor high school student is unable to pay his tuition? The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education says the student should just not attend school, and so on February 22 it sent a proposed ordinance to the provincial legislature that would keep students who have not paid their fees from attending.
The decision is appalling. High school education is the bare minimum people need to prepare for life as regular members of society. It is a de facto penalty to not have that when everyone else does. Penalties are supposed to be imposed in response to wrongdoing. What have those students done wrong? Their sin was being born into poor families. Students who don't get to complete high school will live in greater poverty than their parents. Its like punishment from heaven above that lasts more than a single lifetime.
Maybe officials are worried about the fact there are no clauses allowing them to deal with families that deliberately decide not to pay their school fees. However, unpaid tuition is a issue with the parents, not the students. You cannot tell students to earn money while they are going to school. Education officials in Gyeonggi say the proposed ordinance would just be a "symbolic clause meant to encourage people to pay," but some 103 students at one high school were ordered to stay away after a similar move was made by officials in Changwon, South Gyeongsang province.
Education authorities in Seoul and Incheon are also planning to enact similar ordinances. They are hesitating at the moment because of the negative opinion, but schools worried about their finances continue to call for such action. Not that you can blame them; regional education grants have essentially been frozen since 2003. They are actually shrinking if you consider rising prices. More and more families are bankrupt because of the continuing recession.
High school education is the most basic form of welfare. It is the most important process in "developing human resources." Government officials should not make such a big fuss about encouraging the public to have more children. Helping children who learn and grow with great difficulty develop their abilities should be the priority.
The Hankyoreh, 3 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Keeping Poor Students Out of High Schools |
