South Korea's Ministry of Education abruptly changed course on August 5th regarding its AI digital textbook policy, which had been promoted for full implementation starting in 2025. The plan has been downgraded from official textbook status to mere "educational materials," forcing a slowdown in Korea's educational digital transformation.
Background of the Ministry's Policy U-Turn
For the past two years, the Ministry of Education had actively promoted AI digital textbook adoption as a core pillar of the "2022 Revised Curriculum." The main objectives were to realize personalized education tailored to individual student learning levels and pace, and to create educational environments suitable for the digital native generation.
However, realistic limitations and pushback from educational sites led to policy modifications ahead of implementation. A Ministry official explained the background: "We determined that gradual introduction through sufficient review and preparation would be more effective."
Digital Infrastructure Gap as Key Obstacle
The biggest issue identified was that digital infrastructure levels at elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide fell short of standards necessary for stable AI textbook operation. According to a Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) survey, approximately 40% of all schools failed to meet minimum standards for high-speed internet environments and distribution of digital devices like tablets.
Concerns were particularly high that full AI textbook implementation could exacerbate educational inequality given the persistent digital education gap between metropolitan and local areas, and between urban and rural regions. An elementary school principal in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, expressed practical difficulties: "Many classrooms still have unstable WiFi - how could we utilize AI textbooks?"
Insufficient Teacher Capacity and Readiness
Teachers' lack of digital education capacity also played an important role. In a Ministry survey, over 60% of teachers responded that they felt difficulties utilizing AI digital content.
The Korea Teachers Federation and Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union had continuously expressed concerns. A Teachers Federation official clearly stated their opposition: "AI-dependent education could undermine teachers' expertise and hinder students' creative thinking development."
The Teachers Union also pointed out: "The essence of education is human-to-human interaction, and excessive technology dependence risks weakening this."
Mixed Reactions from Parent Community
Parents were also sharply divided in their opinions. A parent from Gangnam-gu, Seoul, expressed support: "AI textbook introduction is necessary to develop digital capabilities needed for future society."
However, another parent from Gyeonggi Province expressed concerns: "I'm worried about providing additional digital stimulation to children already overexposed to smartphones and games." Opposition was particularly strong among parents of elementary school lower grade students.
Technical Completeness and Budget Issues
The technology level of currently developed AI textbooks was also evaluated as having limitations for fully implementing the Ministry's vision. Many pointed out that the accuracy of functions for analyzing individual student learning patterns and providing optimized learning paths fell short of expectations.
Budget burden was also an undeniable factor. Full AI textbook implementation and related infrastructure construction requires hundreds of billions of won annually, but current Ministry budgets make it difficult to build stable systems for all schools nationwide.
New Utilization Plans and Future Strategy
The Ministry of Education made a final decision to classify AI digital content as "supplementary educational materials" rather than official textbooks. This approach maintains existing paper textbooks as primary materials while allowing teachers to selectively utilize AI content as needed.
Specifically, they will be used for checking student learning comprehension, providing supplementary learning for deficient areas, and offering advanced learning opportunities. The plan is to recommend utilization within 10-20% of class time at teachers' discretion.
Expert Evaluations and Outlook
The education academia has provided mixed evaluations of this decision. Professor Kim from Seoul National University's Education Department evaluated it as "a prudent decision considering realistic conditions," stating that "gradual approach is preferable to forced full implementation."
However, Director Lee from KAIST's Education Innovation Center expressed concerns: "While major countries are accelerating digital education transformation, maintaining only conservative approaches risks falling behind in educational competitiveness."
Future Roadmap and Challenges
The Ministry announced plans to expand pilot school operations over the next three years to verify the effectiveness of AI digital educational materials before reconsidering full implementation.
Starting from the second half of this year, 100 pilot schools nationwide will trial AI educational materials, expanding to 500 schools by 2026. Simultaneously, they plan to focus investments on strengthening teacher training programs and improving school digital infrastructure.
This policy change signifies a slowdown in Korea's educational digital transformation, but can also be interpreted as an effort to minimize educational site confusion through more cautious and systematic approaches. Attention focuses on how effectively the educational authorities' proposed gradual implementation plan will be pursued.
Original article: https://trendy.storydot.kr/IT/ai-textbook-education-policy/
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