The Ministry of Education ignited controversy when it suggested that education be excluded from the ban on discrimination in the anti-discrimination bill. The ministry claimed that the new bill banning education-based discrimination was excessive. However there are also many who argue that the anti-discrimination act, by including education, sounded an alarm in South Korean society, where distinctions based on education level are prevalent.

According to the information released by Justice Party lawmaker Jang Hye-young on June 27, the education ministry submitted its opinions after a review of the anti-discrimination act proposed by Jang to the parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the justice ministry. The ministry also presented its own revision, excluding education from Article 3, which states the grounds of discrimination banned by the bill. The ministry called for “caution” in stipulating education in the anti-discrimination bill.

The ministry supported its argument saying, “Usually, education is not innately determined like gender, age, nationality, and disabilities, but it can differ in a large part by the level of achievement according to individual choices and efforts. Thus there is a strong tendency to regard this as a reasonable ground for discrimination.” The ministry further argued, “Without a widely accepted standard indicator that can measure a person’s ability and replace education, an attempt to restrain discrimination based on education can bring forth arguments of excessive regulation.”

The purpose of the anti-discrimination act is to prohibit discrimination in employment, the use of goods and facilities, education and training, and administrative services because of academic backgrounds, such as education level and alma mater, without reasonable grounds. Here academic background is a concept that includes alma maters, the specific education institution from which a person graduated or completed programs, as well as the level of education that one has completed, such as high school or university.

Hong Sung-soo, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University said, “It (stipulating education in the anti-discrimination act) does not mean that we’re banning all distinction based on education. We are trying to mandate caution by forcing people to consider whether the things that we carelessly think should only be done by college graduates are indeed something that only college graduates can do.” He also said, “We can’t say it is discrimination when a school requests a doctoral degree in the process of hiring a professor. The purpose is to get rid of unnecessary distinctions based on education and distinctions without reasonable grounds.” Hong continued and argued, “The National Human Rights Commission of Korea Act already bans discrimination based on education. Including education among the grounds for discrimination banned by the law is not a serious problem.”

The latest position stated by the education ministry is not consistent with prior policies and state tasks either. President Moon Jae-in pledged to abolish the common practice of discrimination based on education level and alma mater in school admissions, employment, and promotions in the presidential election. He also included this in the top 100 state tasks after his inauguration. In 2019, the Ministry of Education expanded the “blind evaluation” in college admissions to application forms as well as interviews to get rid of discrimination based on high schools. Lawmaker Jang said, “The education ministry is opposing the legislation while expanding blind admissions and employment. It is being ambivalent.”

However, there are voices of concern. Park Nam-gi, a professor at Gwangju National University of Education said, “If we stop people from stating their alma maters (in the process of hiring), we will end up with a higher concentration of people from prestigious schools (who have benefited from a good education environment) when hiring through examinations. In blind interviews, personal connections, family environment, and parents could act as important factors.” He further explained, “In South Korean society, education is not isolated from ability. We need to first ponder measures to abolish the distinction of schools, which has a strong factional quality and is linked to corruption.”

At a parliamentary questioning on June 24 following the controversy, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hae said, “There seems to be a social awareness that accepts education as a reasonable ground for discrimination, so I agree to the purpose of the anti-discrimination act (which bans discrimination based on education),” and added, “We will review the issue once more to see if the ministry misunderstood the purpose of the legislation.”