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ACRC recommends a drastic curtailment in education grants

  • Date2010-12-31
  • Hit1,124
 The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) unveiled measures to dramatically improve the policies and laws related to education grants after more than 40 years since the introduction of the "special grants for education" in 1972.

According to the ACRC's scheme, the annual education grants of more than 1 trillion won are expected to be slashed, and the records on grant allocation will be disclosed to the public.

The ACRC conducted the Corruption Impact Assessment on the special government grants for education to respond to constant criticisms over low transparency in the grant spending process. Based on the results of the assessment, the ACRC came up with measures to reform the special grant systems, and recommended these measures to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on 7 December.

Currently, the government grants account for 20.27 percent of internal revenues, divided into general grants (96%) and special grants for education (4%). Unlike general grants, the budget for education grants is not subject to review by the parliament or the finance ministry. The education minister can provide special grants to municipal and provincial governments in case of national emergency measures, local pending issues or disasters.

The budget for education grants in 2010 amounted to 1.13 trillion won, with 682 billion won (60%) earmarked for national measures; 341 billion won (30%) for local demand; and 1.13 billion won (10%) for disasters.

The ACRC found that education grants are highly vulnerable to budget waste since the awarding of grants has not been preceded by a thorough analysis of the validity of project proposals. Also, there is a strong possibility of shady solicitations and lobbying in the grant allocation process.

The ACRC drew up reform measures to prevent budget waste in spending the special grants and solicitations and lobbying in grant allocation process as follows:
 
  • Education grants should be gradually cut down from 1.1 trillion won to 650 million won.
  • Outside members should constitute the majority of the project review panel; and conflicts of interest mechanisms such as exclusion, challenge and evasion should be put in place for panel members.

  • In the case of special grants for local demand, legal standards should be provided to exclude schools and authorities which do not pay legal levies; the education ministry should not be allowed to give grants without requests from local governments; and the records on grant application and awarding should be made public via the Internet.

  • The special grants for disasters should be integrated into the grants for local demand.

  • The timing for the provision of grants should be specified; the provision of grants in the latter half of the year should be banned; the grant allocation criteria and a breakdown of grant spending should be reported to the parliament; the grants should be returned if the related projects are not carried out for more than two years.

  • Rules should be set down for midterm and retrospective adjustment of grants, offered or entrusted to private organizations; regulations should be introduced for the return and compulsory collection of grants, and criminal punishment in the case of false application or use of grants for other purposes.

"The recommended improvements will greatly contribute to increasing impartiality and transparency in the education field by removing the cause of budget waste in the process of grant spending, and deterring unethical lobbying," an ACRC official said.