SUWON — The Phone-Free School program and the Teachers' Rights Protection Corps, the signature policies of Gyeonggi Province Education Superintendent Ahn Min-seok, drew attention from lawmakers of both parties at a National Assembly Education Committee audit on the 14th. Lawmakers urged that the policy aimed at reducing students' smartphone use be expanded nationwide, while the protection corps, created to shield teachers from abusive complaints and infringements on their authority, was described as groundbreaking.
At the audit, Rep. Jang Dong-hyuk of the People Power Party asked Ahn about the program's results and plans for expansion. Phone-Free School was Ahn's top campaign pledge, designed to help students cut back on smartphone use and build sound digital habits.
"Support from parents is very strong, and teachers are backing it as well," Ahn said. "After a few months, most students are also responding positively." He stressed that institutional measures are needed, given that smartphone overuse among adolescents has emerged as a serious challenge in schools.
"Please keep developing a leading model by running the program as a better model in Gyeonggi Province so that it can spread nationwide," Jang said. Ahn responded by citing the need for the Ministry of Education to expand the program across the country. He also proposed setting the minimum age for social media use at either 15 or 13.
The protection corps also drew favorable assessments. Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the Democratic Party of Korea pointed to the reality of teachers suffering from abusive complaints, saying, "It was a very good move for the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education to take the lead in creating a teachers' rights protection corps under the direct control of the superintendent." He added that it was "a truly groundbreaking step," lending support to Ahn's policy drive.
Ahn attended the audit with a protection corps badge on his left chest. "My conviction is that teachers' rights must be protected even if the sky falls," he said. "I volunteered to head the protection corps myself, and 300 people are currently active." He added, "The very existence of the protection corps is a comfort to teachers and a considerable burden on those who file abusive complaints. As a result, abusive complaints have fallen significantly."
The audit also took up the recent controversy over cuts to daycare center funding in Gyeonggi Province. Rep. Suh Beom-soo of the People Power Party raised the dispute over whether Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae had sought to sharply reduce daycare support funding in the process of declaring a fiscal emergency and submitting a supplementary budget. Suh asked for Ahn's position, noting that daycare centers would fall under the education office's jurisdiction if the integration of kindergartens and daycare centers moves forward.
Ahn, referring to a separate conversation he recently had with Choo, said, "I think the governor's diagnosis of the fiscal crisis has some merit in its own way." He also defended her, saying, "There was no intention to cut the daycare budget, and it was not cut, so her true intent appears to have been misreported."
Debate over responsibility for the overhaul of the local education subsidy grant also continued. Suh pressed Ahn to name those responsible, noting that Ahn had previously criticized the government's revision plan as a change for the worse. "The system is being revised for the first time in 55 years, but the deliberation process was inadequate," Ahn said. When Suh asked again who was responsible, Ahn declined to answer directly, saying, "What you have asked me is a very awkward question."