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The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will distribute materials for school teachers by next month to give a more balanced account of Korea¡¯s recent history than the standard textbooks provide. They are good until the process of purging textbooks of leftwing bias is completed.
This ministry says the reference material criticizes the current history textbooks, which stirred up controversy with leftwing and pro-North Korean accounts of the Korean War, the foundation of South Korea and the Syngman Rhee administration.
The material is written based on work by a committee aiming is to give students ¡°an ideal view of history,¡± a ministry official said Sunday. ¡°It will be distributed until November next year, and it is up to school principals to decide whether to use it or not.¡± Officials from the ministry and regional Education Offices are participating in the writing of the material, which will be put on CD-ROM and sent to over 11,000 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. The schools will then print the materials out and make booklets to use in class.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry decided to bring in academics in politics, economy and other social sciences disciplines other than historians for a more balanced view of history textbooks.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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