By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Public school principals will likely be asked to report their personal assets.
The Anti-corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) said Sunday it will seek to mandate that all state-run primary and secondary school principals disclose all their personal wealth.
The move comes amid an eruption of bribery scandals involving school headmasters and education supervisors.
The commission has already notified the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of it plans.
"The disclosure of their wealth will promote fairness in school management and prevent them from accumulating illegal funds," it said. "This will boost transparency and basic ethics in the field of education."
The agency also said headmasters have a lot of discretionary power but no tools have been introduced to monitor their possible abuse of their position.
Under the current law, top civil servants, excluding principals, have to report their financial status to the government.
According to the National Assembly, 93 corruption cases involving educators were reported last year and among them, 31 were related to school heads.
Some high school principals have been arrested on charges of taking bribes. One former headmaster committed suicide following his dismissal linked to such irregularities. Prosecutors are widening investigations into corruption in the field of education.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
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