Gyeonggi Superintendent Transition Committee Requests Audit of AI Education Platform 'Hi-Learning'

The transition committee for the 6th elected Gyeonggi Provincial Superintendent of Education requested an audit from Superintendent An Min-suk on July 8, raising allegations of preferential treatment and illegality regarding the AI teaching and learning platform 'Hi-Learning,' a key policy of former Superintendent Lim Tae-hee.

The transition committee explained the background of the audit request, stating, "Starting with an initial development cost of 4.6 billion won in 2023, a total of 35.8 billion won has been invested in Hi-Learning. However, it has faced constant criticism for serious side effects and budget waste, including low utilization in schools, technical instability, forced enrollment to inflate performance figures, and controversy over promotional videos that disparaged teachers."

The committee further claimed, "Allegations have been raised that private presentations took place between key education office officials, including the former superintendent, and high-ranking executives at KT, the company that won the project, prior to the project's bidding."

The transition committee's position is that there is suspicion of illegality and preferential treatment, such as the provincial education office conducting the bidding with KT in mind after prior contact.

The committee also argued that the project was pushed forward unreasonably by bypassing mandatory procedures such as prior consultation and the establishment of an Information Strategy Plan (ISP), which are required when promoting large-scale information technology projects.

The transition committee identified three provincial education office officials who were in charge at the time of the project's promotion and one external expert suspected of being involved as subjects for the audit.

Hi-Learning is an education platform that supports the teaching and learning process for teachers and students based on AI and was one of former Superintendent Lim's key projects.

After being introduced on a trial basis in 162 elementary, middle, and high schools in the province in September 2023, it has now been expanded and is being used in most schools.

The transition committee also requested an audit of the entire contracting process, stating that it confirmed that a specific large corporation had monopolized 74.8% of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's information technology product and service contract amounts over the past four years.

(Photo: Provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.