[Best Anti-Corruption Policy]

Let’s sow the seeds of integrity in growing children’s mind!

- Gangwon-do Office of Education has run classes on integrity customized for the future generation, including kindergarteners, primary and secondary school students, and prospective public officials -

March 13, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

Gangwon-do Office of Education is taking the lead in spreading a culture of integrity through running classes on anti-corruption for the future generation in which people of various ages, including kindergarteners, primary and secondary school students and even prospective public officials, can take part.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) has been continuously identifying and spreading the best anti-corruption policies of various public agencies in multiple areas so that the public agencies and the private sector can utilize them as policy reference in the course of anti-corruption policy formulation and implementation.

Previously, the ACRC has introduced several best anti-corruption policies, including ‘the Integrity Patrol’ of the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service aimed at preventing structural or customary corrupt practices in advance, and ‘the Integrity Rookie’ of the Pusan Port Authority developed for new employees to take the lead in conducting anti-corruption activities.

The ACRC selected the Gangwon-do Office of Education (hereinafter, the Education Office) as the third agency implementing outstanding integrity policy measures. The Education Office has been limiting unofficial contact between the operators of construction works and the officials in charge so as to preliminarily remove and improve corruption-causing factors and has been operating a task force for the private preschool audit separately.

In addition, the Education Office has expanded the scope of integrity policy implementation and has been running classes on integrity targeting the future generation.

As a consequence of these efforts, the Education Office was rated as one of the top-tier public agencies in the ACRC’s Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment which evaluates public agencies’ anti-corruption efforts for two consecutive years. Moreover, the Education Office also received the 1st grade in the Public Agency Integrity Assessment, up one notch from a year earlier, retaining its rating in the first- or second-tier for the past three years.

(Classes on Integrity for Future Generation) First of all, to create a sense of integrity among the future generation, the Education Office is running classes on integrity customized by generation.

The Education Office has run a puppet show themed on the importance of the six values of integrity (i.e. responsibility, moderation, solicitude, honesty, promise, and fairness) for kindergarteners so that they can learn such values naturally through watching the show.

For primary and secondary school students, experience-based classes on the theme of integrity that are comprised of multiple activities, e.g. a darts match, speed quiz, big-size yut game, Golden Bell quiz, etc. have been provided, receiving lots of attention and positive responses from the students.

For prospective officials of the Education Office, educational programs to learn about the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, etc. have been run to awaken them to a basic sense of integrity that they should possess before beginning their public service in the Office.

(Guideline for Construction Work Operators) The Education Office has established and implemented the Guideline for the Construction Work Operators in order to prevent corrupt links between the business operator and the official in charge that can take place in the course of processing the construction works.

This Guideline sets out the time and venue permitted for the meeting between the business operator and the official in charge and the measures to be taken upon contact for unavoidable reasons, etc., and applies throughout the whole process of works from placement of an order to supervision to inspection to examination related to all construction works that are ordered by the Education Office, District Offices of Education and schools.

* ex) The venue for contact shall be the office of the supervisor or the work site, and when contact in other places than the aforementioned is unavoidable, the official shall specify the reason and the place of contact when requesting an approval for his/her business trip.

(Task Force for Private Preschool Audit) The Education Office conducts an audit of all private preschools located in the Gangwon-do Province triennially. The T/F has been striving to prevent any violations from recurring by regularly visiting the site to see to it that improvements are made and sharing major cases of violations.

In addition, in parallel with conducting an audit, the Education Office has also provided a consulting service with regard to the overall operational matters of private preschools, such as financial accounting, school administration, and academic affairs, etc. as part of its corruption preventive measures. In the process of these audits and consulting, a private kindergarten voluntarily returned the money it used unjustly.

The Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the ACRC Lim Yoon Ju said, “It is crucial to identify corruption risk factors and take necessary preventive measures early before the actual incidence of corruption occurs to realize a transparent society,” adding that “The integrity education customized to each generation has provided our future generation with the opportunity to learn by doing the important values of integrity through various educational activities suited to their level, and I hope this kind of policy that effectively spreads the culture of integrity throughout the society will continue to be implemented.”