By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter


President Roh Moo-hyun will sign the recently revised private school bill into a law on Saturday as he made efforts to persuade the nation’s religious leaders in a meeting at Chong Wa Dae Friday, according to officials.

Roh listened to the opinions from the religious leaders and promised that he would make utmost efforts to reflect them in the enforcement decree of the law so their concerns over possible adverse effects would not materialize, the presidential office said.

``He promised he will instruct relevant government offices to make subordinate ordinances in a direction that will enable the schools to embody their autonomy to the maximum extent in the course of implementation,’’ Senior Secretary for Civil Society Hwang In-seong said in a press briefing.

In a bid to appease criticism against the legislation aimed at reforming the private schools, Roh invited leaders of the nation’s eight major religions to Chong Wa Dae. But, he made it clear he would not accept a petition by private schools and religious groups to veto the bill.

Some religious groups _ mostly Roman Catholic and Protestant, both of which run private schools _ have criticized the revised bill since it passed the National Assembly on Dec. 9. The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) tried to block the move, but in vain.

The predominantly conservative party at once took to the street for an all-out struggle against the government, claiming that the legislation was designed to have the private schools under the hands of progressive and even left-leaning teachers.

But the ruling Uri Party and the Roh administration argued it is only aimed at rooting out widespread corruptions involving owners and directors of the private schools and enhancing the transparency of the private education sector.

Under the revised law, private school owners are required to elect a quarter of their seven-member board of directors from nominees recommended by faculty members and parents to improve transparency in school management and curb corruption by the school owners.

``The bill is aimed at raising the transparency of the country’s educational system,’’ Roh said at the dinner meeting. ``The planned changes will not affect the content of what is taught at school or conflict with founding principles or guidelines of private schools.’’

He added, even if he signs the bill into law, clauses could be included later in the enforcement decree to allay the most pressing concerns. ``The government can take those worries into consideration and adopt measures that will address the worries.’’

Those invited to the meeting came from the Chogye Buddhist Order; the National Council of Churches in Korea; the Christian Council of Korea; the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea; the Confucian group Sung Kyun Kwan; Won-Buddhism and the Association of Native Korean Religions. Among the invitees, the Christian Council and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference have officially opposed the bill.

Roh asked for support and understanding from the religious circles, saying extreme moves to shut down the door of schools to innocent students should never infringe upon the students’ right to study and learn.

Not all religious groups of the country have opposed to the legislation as they have shown signs of breaking solidarity on the issue in recent weeks. Eleven such groups with a liberal stance have voiced support for the bill.

For example, the National Group of Catholic Priests for Realization of Justice, famous for its efforts for democratization in past military regimes, issued a statement on Monday describing the bill as a ``minimum measure to end private school corruption.’’

However, private middle and high schools nationwide decided to stop selecting students next year and some private universities even threatened to suspend recruiting students on the scheduled admissions procedure starting on Dec. 24 unless the law will be invalidated.

About 100 out of 156 private universities or 70 percent belong to the Korea Private School Foundation Association. Religious foundations operate 24.4 percent of all private schools nationwide.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr