Gyeonggi Province's youth labor rights education program is expected to be suspended this year due to lack of budget support. Frontline schools are voicing concerns that proper labor-related human rights education will become even more difficult.
According to Gyeonggi Province on the 2nd, the youth labor rights education program operated by the Gyeonggi Institute for Lifelong Education will cease operations after failing to secure this year's budget. The approximately 450 million won ($327,000) that Gyeonggi Province had allocated for this year was entirely rejected during the consultation and deliberation process.
The education program, targeting vocational high school students and out-of-school youth in Gyeonggi Province, operates by dispatching selected professional labor education instructors to schools and institutions upon request. From 2023 through last year, an average of approximately 170 professional instructors provided education at about 100 locations annually. Satisfaction with the program has been high in the field. In the institute's annual satisfaction surveys on a 5-point scale from 2023 to 2025, the program scored 4.3 points in 2023-2024 and 4.5 points last year.
While budget shortfall is the primary reason, a change in the education office's policy direction is also cited as a factor behind the program's suspension. The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education revised its ordinance in 2024, expanding mandatory labor education hours at vocational high schools from 2 hours to 4 hours annually, shifting toward strengthening schools' own educational capabilities.
However, critics in the field point out that with a significant number of high school students remaining in blind spots for labor protection, the insufficient foundation for in-house labor education at schools makes it difficult for the revised system to take root without external institutional support programs. According to a labor education forum held by Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Provincial Council in October last year, 34% of Gyeonggi high school students have work experience, and 17% have experienced unfair treatment such as wage theft.
One frontline high school teacher expressed frustration: "Teachers who don't know how to conduct labor education often have students do self-study or show them related YouTube videos during labor education hours. Most teachers are also unwilling to learn about labor education since it's not their major."