Cast votes to elect a new Seoul education chief

If education chiefs are swayed by partisan interests, it will deal a critical blow to the future of our own children and education.

Candidates’ registration for the Oct. 16 by-election to find a new head of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education closes this afternoon. Conservative groups chose former lawmaker Cho Jun-hyuk while the progressive camp picked Jung Keun-shik, an emeritus professor of sociology at Seoul National University. Cho registered his candidacy with the Seoul branch of the National Election Commission on Thursday and Jung held a press conference to declare his bid for the leadership of the Seoul education office yesterday.

Other candidates also will run in the by-election as independents. As political parties are banned from nominating candidates for the post, voters experience a critical lack of information about the candidates. Voters must closely weigh them based on their trajectories and policy proposals.

The Seoul education chief wields enormous power on 2,130 elementary, middle and high schools as well as special schools and kindergartens in the city. The number of its students reaches 840,000. The Seoul education chief also exercises the right to hire or fire about 50,000 public school teachers, including officials at its headquarters and 11 local branches.

This year’s budget for the Seoul education office hit 12.45 trillion won ($9.36 billion), the largest amount after the Gyeonggi Office of Education. But past Seoul education chiefs greatly disappointed students rather than setting an example as respectable educators. Three of them, including Cho Hee-yeon, the latest head, resigned on corruption charges.

Candidates for the education chief championed political neutrality, but couldn’t avoid the sharp conflict between conservatives and liberals even though the elections didn’t require nominations by political parties since 2006. Some candidates tried to rally support from certain political groups instead of presenting education policies that fit the field. Experts even stress the need to adopt a running mate system for education chiefs, mayors and governors. Any election system has its own merits and demerits, but it is time to find a solution to end all the repeated problems before it’s too late.

Above all, voters must actively participate in the by-election. In 2008, the voter turnout was barely over 15 percent. If the election costing 56 billion won is held with voters’ indifference and apathy, that’s a serious matter. Our education suffers from many issues, including the soaring expenses for private education and infringement on teachers’ rights. Whoever becomes the next Seoul education chief can hardly address them quickly. If education chiefs are swayed by partisan interests, it will deal a critical blow to the future of our own children and education. We urge candidates to have a clean and transparent campaign.