"Elementary and junior high school student athletes also come up with a relief plan for the lowest academic ability system!" Rep. Lim Oh-kyung Passes a plenary session on the revision of the School Sports Promotion Act

Nov 28, 2024

'Usaengsoon Legend' Rep. Lim Oh-kyung of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gyeonggi Gwangmyeong-gap, secretary of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee) passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 28th as an alternative to the 'School Sports Promotion Act' proposed by the 'School Sports Promotion Act' so that students can fully realize their sports dreams.

As the minimum education system for student-athletes was applied in earnest from the second semester of this year, confusion in the physical education and education fields was severe. Article 11 of the School Sports Promotion Act states that the principal may restrict student-athletes from participating in the competition if necessary if they do not reach a certain level of academic standards (hereinafter, the lowest academic level)." Middle school must have 40% of the average grade of the subject at the end of the semester (midterm + final exam + performance evaluation) and high school must have 30% or more of the average grade to be allowed to participate in the next semester. In fact, students and parents who are about to go to school immediately protested when some players were banned from participating in the second semester of this year, making it impossible to build their performance for going to school. Controversy has also arisen, including infringement of student athletes' rights to exercise and obstruction of career choices. In particular, exceptions have been made for high school students to participate in the competition when completing the 'Basic Education Guarantee Program', but elementary and middle school students have no supplementary or relief measures, and parents have rushed to file administrative litigation, and a series of skits have been made to allow student athletes to participate in the court.

Rep. Lim Oh-kyung, who has been closely communicating with the field, proposed a revision to the School Sports Promotion Act at the Culture and Sports Committee, and the National Assembly's Education Committee passed the plenary session of the "School Sports Promotion Act" after passing the plenary session of the Board of Education to expand the scope of participation in the competition from "high school student athletes" to "elementary, middle and high school students".

Lim's revision, which passed the National Assembly plenary session on the same day, is meaningful in that not only high school athletes but also elementary and middle school students can participate in the game even if they do not meet the minimum academic standards if they complete the basic education guarantee program, guaranteeing the right to play, and preparing policies for all elementary, middle and high school students to be rescued from the damage caused by the minimum academic ability system.

Representative Lim Oh-kyung said, "As a profession, sports players were coveted as the number one job for elementary school students, but there were many side effects, such as hastily applying the minimum academic standards to the field and forcing students to give up their dreams."We hope that the passage of today's law will create a foundation that guarantees students' right to learn and respects their freedom of choice and freedom of exercise" he said.

Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.