Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations: "95% of Teachers Oppose Admission of 5-Year-Olds to Elementary School"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] A survey revealed that the majority of teachers at kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide oppose the government's plan to lower the elementary school entrance age.

The Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) announced on the 1st that an emergency survey conducted among teachers nationwide showed that 89.1% responded "strongly oppose" and 5.6% responded "oppose" to the plan to lower the entrance age to 5 years old. The combined opposition rate reached 94.7%, while support accounted for only 5.3%.

The survey received 10,662 responses within just three hours. Notably, kindergarten teachers made up 41.5% of respondents and elementary school teachers 37.5%, indicating high interest from early childhood and elementary educators who would be affected by this policy. When asked if they would enroll a 5-year-old child, 91.1% of respondents answered "no."

As reasons for opposition, 82.2% cited that "the developmental stages of children’s emotions and the difficulty level of the curriculum were not considered at all." Next were "factors such as the need for more teachers and classrooms due to overlapping school-age groups were not taken into account" (5.3%), and "children who start school at the same time face significant burdens in advancing to higher education and employment" (4.1%).

Regarding the appropriate elementary school entrance age, 85.2% responded that the current age of 6 years old is suitable, and 9.0% said it should be extended to 7 years old. Only 4.6% supported the age of 5 years old.

In open-ended responses, teachers expressed concerns such as "It seems rushed and focused solely on workforce development," "Politics is imposed on education, and school system reforms are repeatedly used as a routine by each administration," and "Early admission is already available, so applying this uniformly seems unreasonable."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.