Challenges and Barriers in Implementing E-government: Investigation on NEIS of Korea

Due to the fast advances in information technology, education fields also have experienced tremendous changes in the last 10 years in Korea. With this background, Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MOE&HRD) completed the construction of National Education Information System (NEIS) as a one of 11 E-government during the Kim Dae Jung government. NEIS is a Web-based, integrated and centralized online education administration system and communicates other government bodies to process one stop administration service. Adoption of IT technology in the education fields has brought about reduction of redundant administrative works and simplification of complex tasks through automation and standardization of process. However, it has given rise to controversy of possibility of infringement on privacy. It is pointed out that NEIS makes student´s data to be accumulated in a database not in local schools but in Metropolitan and Provincial Offices of Education (MPOE) where the data are transmitted over the network to the local schools which would result in that there is an increased risk of personal data being used for non-intended purposes. The National Human Right Commission of Korea and Education Informatization Committee suggested that 3 working areas, which contains student´s personal information, academic affairs, admission and student health, are to be separated form NEIS. In spite of almost of secure system, no hacking, no leakage of privacy, teacher doesn´t trust the system. To dissolve such social conflicts and to eradicate the possibility of infringing privacy rights and preservation of data integrity, MOE&HRD is reconstructing academic affairs of NEIS. For the reconstruction, we pay tremendous setting up cost. It causes also improvement of regulation to form the foundation for e-administration and privacy protection. In this paper, I will be mentioning debates on the challenges and our fruits and barriers in flourishing E-government base- - d on experience of our NEIS to date. As well as I will be mentioning guidelines for making four principles to be accomplished in constructing E-government