The "Incheon AI Student Success Promotion Committee," the transition committee for the fifth directly elected Incheon superintendent of education, held its first press briefing Wednesday at the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education, unveiling a campaign pledge action plan for the incoming administration.
The briefing laid out core policies and directions across three working groups — school support and teacher protection; student growth and career guidance; and civic, character and ecological education — all aimed at achieving what the committee calls a "student success era" through reading, walking, writing and AI.
The school support and teacher protection group identified creating an environment where teachers can focus fully on instruction as its top priority.
To that end, the committee said it would continuously petition the government and the National Assembly to strengthen teacher immunity protections and expand teacher staffing quotas. It also plans to double the support payment for teachers reported for child abuse from 1 million won ($670) to 2 million won, and to strengthen the overall teacher protection framework by assigning mental health counselors to schools.
The group also plans to identify 50 school-support tasks each year for implementation. Additional measures include having district education offices take over CCTV installation and management, improving field trip operations, expanding sabbatical programs, providing training allowances for new teachers, and building staff housing in the Ganghwa area.
The student growth and career guidance group focused on overhauling career education for the AI era.
Plans call for establishing an Incheon AI Career Education Center and a career center in the Yeongjong area, as well as founding a tentatively named Incheon Arts Middle School and Incheon Sports Middle School. A career and vocational mentorship network would be expanded to 5,000 members to provide more tailored guidance to students.
The committee also plans to expand college admissions information sessions and career counseling for parents, and to strengthen a public-school-centered university entrance support system through college entrance exam analysis lectures, individual interview coaching and on-site admissions consulting for students in island communities.
In vocational education, the committee intends to establish or convert schools into an Incheon AI Electronics Meister High School and a tentatively named Incheon Energy High School, and to operate an AI entrepreneurship school. Programs called "Getting to Know Incheon" and "Incheon World Learning School" — the latter targeting 10,000 students annually — aim to cultivate locally and globally minded talent.
The civic, character and ecological education group plans to expand programs that foster ecological awareness, a culture of peace and a sense of community.
The committee aims to grow the Sea School program to a cumulative 1,430 classes and pursue UNESCO Green School certification. It also plans to develop a "Democratic Peace 100 Trails" route, expand human rights and labor education across elementary, middle and high schools, and increase funding for student government presidents to fulfill their own campaign pledges.
The committee also plans to strengthen future-oriented character education through modern filial piety and etiquette programs suited to the digital environment.
Oh Seung-han, vice chairman of the committee, said the action plan was developed by continuously incorporating feedback from schools. "We will keep monitoring progress so that the announced policies lead to real change in the field, and we will work to make our promises to citizens concrete," he said.
gilbert@heraldcorp.com
