National audits of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon education offices to scrutinize AI platform deals

Film group screenings and Baejae High School controversy also expected to resurface

Contractor selection and budget execution for AI teaching and learning platforms are expected to be major issues at the national audits of the Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon education offices. Pictured is HiLearning, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education's AI platform.
Contractor selection and budget execution for AI teaching and learning platforms are expected to be major issues at the national audits of the Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon education offices. Pictured is HiLearning, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education's AI platform.

Contractor selection and budget execution for AI teaching and learning platforms are expected to emerge as central issues at the national audits of the Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon education offices. The controversy over group student screenings of the film "Assassins" and its implications for history education — which divided ruling and opposition parties at an earlier Ministry of Education audit — is also likely to resurface.

The National Assembly's Education Committee will conduct national audits of the Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon education offices on Wednesday. Seoul Superintendent of Education Jeong Geun-sik, Gyeonggi Province Superintendent of Education Ahn Min-seok and Incheon Superintendent of Education Do Seong-hun are all scheduled to appear and respond to questions on major education policies and pending issues.

At the Gyeonggi Province audit, allegations of preferential treatment surrounding HiLearning, the office's AI teaching and learning platform, are set to take center stage. Superintendent Ahn's transition committee raised concerns in July over signs of pre-planned procurement, omitted mandatory procedures, and alleged irregularities and favoritism in the bidding process, and called for an audit. The transition committee said at the time that 35.8 billion won ($26.8 million) had been spent on the project over the past three years. The Education Committee has also subpoenaed related witnesses.

An AI teaching and learning platform being jointly developed by 11 education offices, including those of Seoul and Incheon, will also face scrutiny. Seoul's education office led the first phase of development, with Incheon's office now overseeing the project. As an upgrade follows the roughly 34 billion won first phase, questions have been raised about cost-sharing arrangements, task fulfillment and the procurement method for follow-on work. Lawmakers are also expected to question how widely the platforms are actually used in classrooms and what measures are in place to protect student data.

With the film "Assassins" on the verge of surpassing 3 million cumulative admissions, moviegoers book tickets for the film at a movie theater in Seoul on Sunday. [Yonhap]
With the film "Assassins" on the verge of surpassing 3 million cumulative admissions, moviegoers book tickets for the film at a movie theater in Seoul on Sunday. [Yonhap]

Debate over history education and freedom of expression is also likely to continue. At the Ministry of Education's national audit on Oct. 7, People Power Party lawmaker Jeong Seong-guk argued that the film "Assassins" could instill a distorted view of history in students and called for the ministry to address group school screenings of the film. Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Kang Gyeong-suk pushed back, saying the National Assembly was not a film censorship board, while Democratic Party lawmaker Baek Seung-a countered that students should be taught critical thinking skills to distinguish fact from fiction.

People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun also pressed Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin, asking whether students at Baejae High School had not been exercising their freedom of expression, and arguing that applying a different standard to the film on grounds of creative freedom was inconsistent.

Choi said there was a need to educate students on distinguishing historical fact from fiction, but added that there were limits to how far the ministry could intervene in every case. The audit of the education offices is expected to include discussion of how far education authorities should go in overseeing school activities such as group film screenings.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's response to the Baejae High School baseball team controversy is also expected to be linked to broader questions about hate speech, history education and democratic citizenship education. Key points of inquiry will include what standards schools should apply when intervening in student expression, and how to balance disciplinary action with education.

Superintendent Jeong said last month that the Baejae High School incident and similar cases had prompted him to establish a framework for addressing hate speech, discrimination and conflict within schools. With the Education Committee having subpoenaed Hwang Mun-chan, chairman of the Baejae Hakdang foundation, as a witness at this year's audit, proceedings are expected to cover not only the school and foundation's follow-up measures but also educational approaches to preventing a recurrence of hate speech.


brunch@heraldcorp.com