The Gangwon branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union met with Superintendent-elect Kang Sam-young to discuss pending issues.

The Gangwon branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) announced on the 24th that it met with Superintendent-elect Kang Sam-young and discussed major issues of Gangwon education.

The Gangwon branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union visited the transition committee set up at the Chuncheon Education and Culture Center the day before and met with President-elect Kang for about an hour and 15 minutes.

At this meeting, opinions were exchanged on normalizing collective agreements, school work, and student evaluations, supporting on-site experiential learning, strengthening the protection of teaching rights, and restoring the public nature of private schools.

In particular, as the normalization of the collective agreement is an important starting point for evaluating the labor-management relations of the new Office of Education and the institutional foundation that has supported the stability of the education field and the working conditions of teachers, it was requested that the new Office of Education should fully restore this and respect the union as a responsible consultative body for education policy.

Branch Director Cho Young-guk said, “Gangwon Education is now at an important point of normalization and transition,” and added, “I hope that the new Office of Education will respect the school environment and jointly draw the future of Gangwon Education through dialogue with the labor union.”

President-elect Kang agreed that protecting teaching rights is an important task for Gangwon education, and expressed his intention to resolve problems in the field in a way that ensures teachers' leadership, organize necessary parts based on voices from the field, and continue discussions after taking office.

Starting with this meeting, the Gangwon branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union plans to continue policy proposals and practical consultations on major issues of Gangwon education even after the superintendent of education transition process and the launch of the new office of education.

Previously, the Gangwon Office of Education declared the collective agreement to be invalid in October of last year, claiming that the agreement with the Gangwon branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union had become an obstacle to the promotion of various educational policies and had limited the authority of educational authorities.