According to a recent study by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, of the 1,391 elementary, middle, and high schools operated by 831 private education foundations, the headmasters of 178 are the spouse, child, sibling, or relative of the head of the owning foundation. In other words, a considerable number of schools are run by relatives of the chair of their trustee boards. When families divide up the positions at education foundations and schools amongst themselves, it becomes hard not be criticized for suspicions of cliquish management and corruption, no matter how fine a school's mission statement may be.
Not all private schools are a problem. The nepotism and irregularities exist at only some of them. The education ministry's study differentiates between those suspected of nepotism and the healthy ones. Of the country's 42 Catholic schools run by 17 Catholic organizations, there is one only relative of a chief trustee as a headmaster and two relatives in other senior administrative positions. Out of 17 schools run by 12 Buddhist foundations, only one relative is serving as headmaster and four are administrators, and only one relatives is a headmaster and one an administrator among the 15 schools run by 8 Won Buddhist organizations. In some cases, there is thorough operational separation between the owning foundation and their schools. None of those foundations look like they are trying to treat their schools as personal property. It is the other private schools that are the problem.
The ministry's documentation does not outline the irregularities at private schools. The bad private schools use diverse methods to maintain the closed nature of their management structures, and that includes the mutual exchange of trusteeships. Accounting irregularities are committed through the manipulation of important school positions. The result is that there are 30 to 40 campus disputes a year, and over the past five years there has been W200 billion worth of accounting fraud. Ministry officials need to start with an in-depth investigation of the cliquish operations at private schools, as that will contribute to quieting the wasteful controversy over the Private School Law.
The Hankyoreh, 14 January 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Edu Ministry Should Investigate School Management |
