Ministry of Labor informs NHRC of new policy stance to amend the Enforcement Decree of the National Technical Examination Act
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) received a response to an inquiry the NHRC sent to the Ministry of Labor (MOLAB) on 13 June 2003 regarding the MOLAB position on the issue of giving preferential treatment to graduates of 4-year universities over graduates of 2-year technical colleges (in the case of the technician exam and the convention planner exam) and graduates of 2-year technical colleges preferential treatment over high school graduates (in the case of the industrial technician exam) in the National Technical Qualification Examinations system. In its 2 July 2003 reply, the Ministry of Labor informed the NHRC of its intent to “amend the Enforcement Decree of the National Technical Qualifications Act at earliest, by the beginning of 2004.”
According to article 11 [table 4] of the current Enforcement Decree of the National Technical Qualifications Act, graduates of a 2-year technical college and of high school are required to have 2 years and 4 years, respectively, of work experience in the field related to the exam in order to fulfill the prerequisites for taking the qualification exam for technician. In contrast, anyone who is a graduate of a 4-year university (as well as university students who have dropped out of school, third-year students who have completed their coursework and fourth-year students) can apply to take the technician qualification exam without any prerequisites (related work experience, having majored in that field etc) whatsoever. The same is true for the qualification exam for “convention planners”; those with less education are required to have 2 or 4 years related work experience in order to apply to take the exam whereas anyone who has graduated from a 4-year university can take the exam no matter what their major.
This discrimination against persons with less education is reflected in the exam prerequisites for “industrial technician” as well. Whereas graduates of a 2-year technical college (as well as students in their 2nd year, students who have finished coursework but are in their 1st year, and drop-outs) are not required to have any related work experience or have studied a related field while in school in order to take the qualification exam, those with a high school education or less who apply to take the exam must have 2 years of related work experience in order to take the qualifications exam.
Because the NHRC regarded as discrimination such preferential treatment to exam applicants with higher education—regardless of whether or not such higher education was related to the qualification exam field—for the sole reason that they had been to college or university, the NHRC had requested the Ministry of Labor to submit an opinion on the matter.
Upon re-examining the system, the Ministry of Labor concluded that such practices did discriminate against people with less education and found that the system of exempting those with tertiary education from either work experience or study prerequisites was seen as lowering the specialization standards. The ministry revealed that it was in the process of reviewing a proposal to systematically equalize the exam prerequisite system in a way that would enhance greater specialization of exam takers. The ministry also reported that it planned to subject the reform proposals to public scrutiny—specifically, to industrial associations (in September) and to public hearings (in October)—before amending the related laws, making reform of the system possible as early as the beginning of 2004.
