By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Police will not be allowed to crackdown on private institutions providing middle or high school students with courses after 10 p.m., the chief policymaker of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) said Monday.
Rep. Yim Tae-hee told reporters that the party's key post holders vetoed the plan to introduce a bill aimed at setting a curfew for hagwon operating hours and using police to crackdown on private institutions violating the regulation at a meeting with education ministry officials.
GNP lawmakers shared the view that it was not desirable for them to come up with the bill because ``this does not fit with President Lee Myung-bak's policy featuring more autonomy for schools and other educational entities,'' Yim said.
Rather than imposing additional regulation, the GNP chief policymaker stressed that it's important for those entities to voluntarily play by the rules.
Controversy over setting a curfew for hagwon operating hours erupted after Kwak Seung-joon, chairman of the Presidential Council on Future and Vision, raised the issue last month.
In an interview, Kwak said teaching students at hagwon after 10 p.m. would be banned from the upcoming summer break and supportive legislation would be introduced in June, explaining that these measures were sought to help families spend less on private tutoring.
He also said that police would crack down on private institutions operating after the curfew.
Kwak drew bipartisan criticism for the remarks mainly because he was not in a position to comment on education reform and the announcement was made without policy coordination with the education ministry.
GNP leaders as well as the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized the chairman for his inappropriate remarks and excessive media exposure, which, they said, triggered policy confusion.
After a flurry of accusations, President Lee warned the government's key post holders, including the chairman of the presidential council, to be careful not to go too far.
During Monday's ruling party-education ministry meeting over measures for education reform, GNP lawmakers proposed a set of steps aimed at strengthening the quality of public education as an alternative to cutting household spending on private tutoring.
The lawmakers proposed that schools provide students with more after-school programs, introduce quality activities and encourage teachers who have demonstrated great performances to be part of the additional programs.