"I will fundamentally resolve the bean-sprout classrooms," Lim Byung-gu, a candidate for Incheon Superintendent of Education, declared as he launched a 99-hour all-out campaign on Saturday, the first day of early voting, putting the issue of overcrowded classrooms in new towns at the forefront.
Lim began a 19-hour campaign day after greeting citizens boarding the first metropolitan bus in Songdo at 5 a.m. At 10 a.m., he cast his early ballot with his wife at the Ara 1-dong Administrative Welfare Center. "I stepped directly into the lives of citizens who start their day in the early morning dew, and renewed my resolve to make public education a safety net responsible for the entirety of children's lives," Lim said.
His decision to focus the first day's route on Songdo and Geomdan is seen as a signal of his determination to address overcrowding in new town schools. "Bean-sprout classrooms have become routine, and children's right to learn is being seriously infringed upon," Lim said. "The current education office has neglected this problem, fixated on mechanical balance and showcase administration."
Lim pledged to fundamentally resolve overcrowding through new school construction and support for appropriately sized schools. He plans to diagnose new town overcrowding and old downtown deterioration on a data-driven basis through the development of an "Incheon Education Polarization Index" and the establishment of an "Education Balanced Development Committee."
"To rescue the collapsed competitiveness and pride of Incheon education, I will fight a desperate battle on the streets in the time remaining," Lim said, urging voters to participate in early voting.
