Dozens of lawmakers from the opposition parties introduced on Sunday a bill that would require middle and high schools to adopt history textbooks published by private entities in a move meant to block the government from reinstating state-authored textbooks.

The government decided last year to mandate that secondary schools use state-authored history textbooks, claiming that the previous books contained “ideologically-biased” descriptions. The Education Ministry plans to finish writing the book by this November and begin distributing them in March 2017.

The measure prompted vehement opposition among liberal lawmakers who vowed to block the government’s plan upon beginning their term in the 20th National Assembly. Up to this point, South Korea had allowed multiple publishers to author the textbooks and certified them if they were deemed fit for education purposes. 

The opposition-led bill, if signed into law, would supersede the government decree announced last October that enforces reinstatement of the state-authored textbooks. The books are currently being confidentially authored by a team of scholars. The full list of authors has not been released for security reasons.

“The adoption of state-authored textbooks clashes with constitutional value because the measure undermines diversity and neutrality in education policies,” said Rep. Lee Chan-yeol of the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea. Lee is one of the 33 opposition parties’ lawmakers who drafted the bill.

The bill, designed to revise the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act,” removes the decree’s clause that obligates schools to adopt textbooks authored by the government.

The third-term lawmaker added that the government also took “illegal” measures in the process of reinstatement such as by setting up a secret body to supervise dissenters and allocating extra budget without legislative consultations.

For the bill to become law, it must be approved by three-fifth of the lawmakers in a plenary vote. The number of combined seats held by the opposition parties is 161, 19 seats short of the three-fifths threshold in the 300-member Assembly.

The Assembly’s education committee is currently chaired by the Minjoo Party’s Rep. Yoo Sung-yup. Yoo said he would see to it that his committee votes on the bill.

The committee consists of 12 lawmakers each from the Saenuri Party and the Minjoo Party as well as four lawmakers from the People’s Party. The standing committee is the last stop before a bill is put to a vote in a plenary session.

“If the rival parties fail to find a common ground, then we have to put the measure to a vote,” said Yoo in a media interview. “It’s a shame that we are forced to rely on legislative measure to address the issue,” he said.

The move is the latest in a series of legislative coordination between the main opposition parties. Having secured parliamentary majority in the April general election, the Minjoo Party and the third-biggest People’s Party have pushed to ban state textbooks as one of their top legislative priorities.

“We had already decided to coordinate with the Minjoo Party on the textbook issue. Now that they have asked for cooperation, we will help them,” said the People’s Party floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won in an interview.

Before the general election, Rep. Lee Sang-don of the People’s Party, who spearheaded the party’s election campaign, had announced that it would move to adopt a joint resolution in the 20th Assembly to condemn the government for pushing to reinstate the textbooks.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)