A lawyer filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court Wednesday to foil the government’s move to reintroduce state-authored history textbooks.
Bringing the heated debate over the issue to court, Chang Deog-cheon argued that the government’s decision violates the Constitution which stipulates autonomy in education.
“The right of students to decide independently on their education includes the right to choose their textbooks,” the 50-year-old lawyer said.
Last week, the government announced that it will revise the current textbook publication system so that secondary school students will learn Korean history with national textbooks starting in the 2017 school year.
Currently, history textbooks for secondary schools are published by eight private publishing companies and subject to government approval for use, while primary schools have a single set of state-authored history textbooks.
Chang, the father of a 10-year-old boy himself, claimed that the government’s drive has infringed on parents’ right to make decisions on their children’s education. (Yonhap)
