The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education has ultimately suspended its subsidy program for high school seniors to obtain driver's licenses and other certifications, which had previously sparked controversy over increasing teachers' administrative workloads.

This initiative was one of the major policies introduced by the previous superintendent, the appropriateness of which current Gyeonggi Superintendent Ahn Min-seok had criticized since his election campaign.

According to the provincial education office on July 24, the School Education Policy Division of the provincial office sent an official notice to high schools across the province on the 15th of this month regarding the termination of the support program for developing social entry competencies for expected high school graduates.

As for the reason for termination, the office cited the superintendent's campaign pledge to comprehensively review and abolish programs that place a heavy burden on the field.

The social entry competency development support program provides actual expenses for acquiring certifications—such as driver's licenses, language tests, and the Korean History Proficiency Test—to third-year students attending general high schools, autonomous high schools, specialized high schools, vocational high schools, special schools, and authorized alternative schools in the province.

The provincial education office provided up to 300,000 won per person for a single certification.

Having launched the program for the first time last year, the provincial education office allocated 37.2 billion won and executed approximately 25 billion won.

When the provincial education office expanded the certification cost support program—previously limited to vocational high school students—to all schools, frontline schools pushed back, arguing that teachers' workloads increased excessively due to tasks like contracting with driving academies.

In response, regional offices of education handled the driving academy contracting procedures on behalf of schools to alleviate the burden, which sparked criticism over whether such operational procedures were appropriate.

It is also known that an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection regarding this matter is currently underway.

Superintendent Ahn has criticized the social entry competency development support program—first introduced during former Superintendent Lim Tae-hee's term—since the 6th local election campaign for superintendents.

During a TV debate for superintendent candidates held on May 26, Superintendent Ahn pointed out, "We allocated 37 billion won under the guise of supporting high school seniors' social entry competencies, and it has been included in the pledges once again. Is this the right approach?"

An official from the provincial education office explained, "There were many criticisms in school settings pointing out that this is a 'welfare' task rather than 'education,' as well as criticisms that it was a populist program ahead of elections. We made the decision to halt it after comprehensively reviewing various issues."
 
(Photo provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, Yonhap News)