The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is accelerating the introduction of AI textbooks by allocating 25.6 billion won as a budget for subscription fees for artificial intelligence (AI) digital textbooks next year. Despite Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Jeong Geun-sik's statement that caution should be exercised in introducing AI textbooks, the government is in fact in line with the Ministry of Education's policy of introducing AI textbooks in bulk.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's 2025 budget plan released on the 1st, in addition to the AI textbook subscription fee budget, 165 billion won was allocated for the smart device 'Divot' for students. Next year's AI textbooks are scheduled to be introduced in the 3rd and 4th grades of elementary school, the 1st year of middle school, and the 1st year of high school math, English, information, and special (Korean) subjects.
On the other hand, the Ulsan Office of Education made clear its opposition to the full introduction of AI textbooks, allocating only 1.5 billion won for next year's AI textbook budget. It is known that Ulsan Superintendent Cheon Chang-soo made this decision, expressing concerns about the full introduction of AI textbooks due to insufficient tax revenue, lack of sufficient verification opportunities, and negative public opinion from parents.
On the 29th of last month, the Ministry of Education revised the Enforcement Decree of the Local Education Financial Grant Act to provide more budget support to city and provincial offices of education with a large number of students subscribing to AI textbooks. This effectively forces city and provincial offices of education to introduce AI textbooks, and is being criticized by some in the education community as an infringement on educational autonomy.
Meanwhile, at the plenary session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, the ruling party expressed its position that the budget for free high school education should be reflected in the budget of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. This is because the bill to support the budget for free high school education expires at the end of this year, and city and provincial offices of education will have to bear the entire budget for free education in the future. Seoul City Council Chairman Choi Ho-jeong expressed concern about Superintendent Jeong Geun-sik's decision to make the free high school education budget an issue and emphasized that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education should take responsibility.
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