In 2018, as private kindergartens with corruption have become an issue in Korea, the Education Ministry announced a plan to strengthen the public safety of kindergartens as a solution. It also said it will gradually introduce the Edu-fine system to private kindergartens. Edu-fine is a national accounting management system. It is already being used by public educational institutions in Korea such as public kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. In the system, there should be recorded everything related to the budget used by educational institutions, including the cost of purchasing goods and the cost of students' welfare, meals, activities, facilities, and external instructors. In addition, under the Edu-fine system, all the financial transactions must be made through the E-education Vault, not the private banking transaction system. The Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations has consistently expressed its rejection. However, the introduction of Edu-fine system must be made in order to prevent the bad habit just like the past.
According to the Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations, private kindergartens do not feel it is necessary to follow the national accounting system because they are private property, so they oppose the introduction of Edu-fine system. However, private kindergartens are also educational institutions, so I think the introduction of Edu-fine system is necessary for more equitable accounting for children's education. In addition, private kindergartens have been demanding that the nation should provide financial support for children's education at the same level as the state-owned kindergartens. Their argument is contradictory. Because they have so far called for treatment equivalent to state-owned one for their own benefit, however, as if they were self-employed, they are emphasizing that they are private institutions in the face of the need to disclose their finances transparently. Furthermore, if they have indeed invested and will invest in children's education in terms of costs, there is no reason why they cannot disclose the details to parents who are children's guardians and to the state. The Education Ministry commissioned a poll agency Realmeter on February 27th to conduct a telephone survey. As a result, 83.1 percent of 1,049 adult males and females expressed their support for the introduction of Edu-fine system. 73.7 percent of the respondents also disagreed with the Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations’ claim that the introduction of Edu-fine system infringes on private property of private kindergartens. This is a kind of measure of how unjust the Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations' claim is, along with the worsening public opinion.
As such, there are many inconsistencies in the claims made by the Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations. In the end, the problem is the money-related part, and if they start using the Edu-fine system, they can be inspected the budget being executed. This could prevent cheating on the budget that has occurred in the past. If you really believe that kindergartens should exist as educational institutions as they originally claim, the Korea Federation of Kindergarten Organizations should accept the Edu-fine system. I hope they will stop maintaining a less consistent attitude than children.