Teachers` union protest against streamed classes

A teachers` union said yesterday that it will refuse the government`s plan to expand a system that separates students into tiered classes depending on their grades achieved at junior high and high schools.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers` Union said the selection process that divides students depending on their performances in English and math amounts to "discriminatory education."

The Education Ministry announced last month that the divided classes will become the nationwide system next year, if has been forcefully implemented in some regions since 2004.

The union rejected its plan, saying that the system only discourages students who rank in the middle or low grades.

"We`re against organizing the standardized and forced separated classes, which will only worsen social discrimination at schools," union spokesman Han Man-jung said in a news conference.

"We will lay a war against separated classes in 2006 with students, parents and civic groups."

The unionized teachers created another conflict with the government after refusing the new government-proposed evaluation system and demanded the dismissal of Education Minister Kim Jin-pyo in recent months.

The union gained legitimacy in 1999 after a 10-year ban.

(aibang@heraldm.com)



By Annie I. Bang