Support Extended to High Schools of Excellence in 88 Rural Counties
The Education Ministry announced on April 5 its plans to invest 24.1 billion Korean won in 2007 to increase financial support in nurturing one high school of academic and environmental excellence per each 88 county nationwide.
In an attempt to improve the educational environment of fishing and farming villages, the ministry laid out an initiative in 2004 to select one high school per one county, designate them as the region’s “excellent school,” and provide intensive financial support so as to help raise their level of education to urban standards. By developing a desirable school model for each rural county, the ministry sought to prevent the move of regional talents to urban cities, and provide a ground basis for rural schools to pursue development.
By late 2006, the number of such selected “excellent schools” reached 44. The government’s total financial support topped 32.3 billion won over the years. Recent surveys showed that thanks to the support, the higher education enrolment rate of seniors in these high schools grew by 3.8 percent, and the admission rate of middle school graduates with high academic performance grew by 4.3 percent. There were great improvements in educational facilities, such as building renovations, heating/cooling systems, media facilities, and advanced teaching-learning equipment. In all, the average satisfaction rate of students, parents and teachers grew to 64.4 percent in 2006, up from 56.4 percent in 2005.
Continuing endeavors, the Ministry of Education intends to increase support to selected schools in all 88 counties by the end of 2007. New schemes have been outlined for more efficiency, such as breaking up the financial support to provide over a three-year period, instead of giving the total amount in a year. The aim is to induce the participation of regional authorities in the process, so that rural schools and educational bodies may ultimately develop self-sustainable capacity. The ministry will seek regional 1:1 matching funds for the purpose, and exclude its support for counties that fail to come up with sufficient regional sources of finance.
Selected schools will be designated as ‘autonomous schools,’ and be granted the right to student selection, and curricular development and operation. The new open principal recruitment system will also be tried out in these schools. The ministry will call for applications from local education offices and select 44 new high schools of excellence by late April.
웹사이트: http://www.moe.go.kr
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2008년 2월 20일 16:26
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