COURT RESTORES STATUS OF ELITE SCHOOLS

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Two years ago the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced plans to convert eight "autonomous private high schools" into regular high schools and strip them of their elite status in an effort to achieve standardized education. However in a lawsuit, the court sided with the schools saying it was illegitimate for city authorities to retroactively apply the criteria on evaluating school performance.

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In 2019, eight autonomous private high schools in Seoul failed a performance evaluation where city officials assessed whether the institutions should maintain their status. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education at the time said their evaluation scores did not pass the needed 70 points and thereby canceled their licenses. The elite schools, forced to become regular high schools thereafter, immediately filed a lawsuit in protest, asking the court to invalidate the education office’s decision. The court first issued a suspension of the decision and the schools were able to keep their status for the time being. And finally on Thursday, the court gave its first ruling one and a half years after the lawsuit was filed and ruled in favor of Sehwa and Pai Chai High Schools. The court pointed out while the evaluation period was from 2015, the education office revised or newly introduced a large number of evaluation criteria at the end of 2018. The court said the schools could not possibly predict such changes and reflect them in school operations. The court said it was an abuse of discretionary power for education authorities to retroactively apply the new standards and go on to cancel the autonomous school designation. If the ruling is upheld by higher courts, cancellation of the schools’ statuses will become invalid. The plaintiffs have welcomed the verdict and vowed to continue their promised educational activities.

[Soundbite] Kim Jae-yun(Principal, Sehwa High School) : "We expected the outcome. School members will once again commit to continuing our educational activities."

Meanwhile progressive leaning education groups criticized the court decision saying there was no problem with the municipal evaluation.

[Soundbite] Park Eun-gyeong(Parents Group NGO for Equal Education) : "We denounce the court ruling which has neglected calls on normalizing public education and converting autonomous private schools to regular high schools."

Starting next month, court rulings on the other six remaining schools including Soongmoon and Shinil High Schools will also be announced.