75% of Seoul teachers said, "The direct system of superintendents should be abolished or supplemented."

With the by-election of the Seoul Superintendent of Education just two days away, three out of four Seoul teachers said the direct election system should be abolished or supplemented.

According to a survey of 464 teachers in Seoul from the 2nd to the 7th by the Seoul Federation of Teachers' Associations, 75% of teachers said that the current direct system of superintendents should be abolished or supplemented.

The reasons were political and ideological pledges and confrontations, difficulties in educational access due to intensifying populism, voter apathy, and lack of verification and information about candidates.

As an alternative, 55.2% of the respondents cited limited direct elections from education officials, followed by the mayor and provincial governor running mate system with 33.9%.

42.7% of respondents cited experience and expertise as the top qualities of the next superintendent, 26.3% believed in political neutrality and educational autonomy, and 23.3% of leadership and policy promotion ability.

The biggest problem in the superintendent election was 47.6% of the candidates' political remarks and the principle of separation of education and politics, 29.1% of the candidates' lack of competition for education policy vision, and 11.1% of the candidates had difficulty choosing candidates.