Gyeongnam Office of Education Cracks Down on Preschool English Academies Charging Excessive Tuition Fees

39 Special Inspections in the Province, 11 Cases Detected and Administrative Actions Taken

On the 17th, the Gyeongnam Office of Education announced that 11 cases were detected during a special inspection of English academies for young children in Changwon and other areas of the province.

The provincial Office of Education explained that, in response to parents' concerns and growing social worries over high tuition fees, a special task force led by Vice Superintendent Park Seong-su was formed.

According to the provincial Office of Education, the special inspection was conducted from April 13 to the end of April, targeting 39 English academies for young children in seven regions of the province that operate for more than four hours a day.

Gyeongnam Office of Education Ai Joha Flag.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The task force examined ▲excessive tuition fee collection ▲use of names outside the registered academy name or similar names ▲false or exaggerated advertisements ▲and the status of hiring foreign instructors.

A total of 11 cases were detected and administratively sanctioned, including one suspension of instruction, seven correction orders, and three administrative guidance cases, with fines totaling 3.1 million KRW imposed on four of them.

The main violations included ▲use of unregistered names ▲hiring of foreign instructors without verification ▲failure to register instructor dismissal ▲and unauthorized facility modifications.

The provincial Office of Education plans to coordinate with the Ministry of Education to establish measures regarding academy curricula that cause confusion among parents by resembling kindergarten programs.

Vice Superintendent Park stated, “We will continue to conduct guidance and inspections of academies to prevent parents’ concerns caused by excessive tuition fees or false and exaggerated advertisements taking advantage of recent price increases, and do our best to prevent harm to parents.”

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