TEA-KOR supports the protests of students and civil organizations against tuition fee increases and proposed changes to English language education policies. Such changes would be part and parcel of the South Korean President's privatization scheme of which public services are primary targets for shredding.
English language education requires a greater investment and commitment to public education if there are to be improvements in education productivity (i.e., greater success at graduation in relation to fees paid for education). It also requires regulation of the private academies and improved working conditions in such establishments.
About 7,000 civic group members and college students held mass agitation in downtown Seoul on March 29. Their main call: to call for a reduction of college tuition fees. This was first mass protest since the new government took office a month ago. The government sent 14,000 riot police of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency as a threat. Even before taking office, President Lee Myung-bak had pledged strict law enforcement to crack down on illegal strikes and demonstrations.
The network of 540 civic groups opposes tuition hikes while opposition political parties condemned the government for threatening to place arrest squads, which they compared to those who clamped down on students during democracy movements in the 1980s.
TEA-KOR Commentary tea_kor@yahoo.com