Ministry of Education's 'Public Education Announcement' Receives Mixed Reactions... Will There Be Strong Measures Against Private Education?

Retention of Autonomous and Foreign Language High Schools: "Diversity" vs "Hierarchy"
Private Education Measures to Be Announced... "Must Be Effective"

The Ministry of Education's 'Measures to Enhance the Competitiveness of Public Education' announced on the 21st has received mixed reactions from the education sector regarding whether it can reduce private education. The education sector is paying close attention to whether the Ministry's private education cost reduction measures, scheduled to be announced on the 26th, will contain effective content.

The Ministry's announcement includes maintaining autonomous private high schools (Jasago), foreign language high schools (Oego), and international high schools (Gukje-go), which were planned to be converted to general high schools under the previous administration, and implementing the high school credit system as scheduled from 2025 despite disagreements over the full implementation timing.

It also designates third grade elementary and first grade middle school students as 'responsible education grades' to support learning and includes creating an environment where teachers can focus on teaching.

◆Mixed Reactions from Teacher Organizations=Teacher organizations showed mixed reactions to the announcement. First, regarding the recommendation that all third grade elementary and first grade middle school students participate in autonomous academic achievement evaluations, the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) expressed support, stating, "In a situation where the proportion of students below basic academic skills increases every year, diagnosing students' objective learning levels and providing systematic learning support based on the results is an urgent task."

On the other hand, the teachers' union said, "Providing detailed information on academic achievement evaluation results by region may promote excessive competition," and expressed concerns that "it could strengthen ranking within schools and encourage private education."

Regarding the maintenance of autonomous private high schools and foreign language high schools, the KFTA welcomed the move, saying, "Considering the need to provide diverse educational opportunities to students and a high school system suitable for nurturing talent in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, it is necessary to maintain autonomous private high schools in line with their original purpose." However, the Good Teachers Movement expressed concern, stating, "If the high school credit system with absolute evaluation is fully implemented in 2025 while the high school hierarchy system remains, the concentration on special-purpose high schools and the surge in private education will become more severe."

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho bows his head before briefing on measures to enhance public education competitiveness at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 21st. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

◆Announcement of Strong Private Education Measures Expected=The recent announcement did not include specific measures against abnormal private education, which has been a subject of controversy. Regarding the criticism that private education institutions have more information about the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and admissions than public education, leading students to attend private academies, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Ju-ho only responded, "We will explain in detail when announcing private education measures next week."

Following President Yoon Seok-yeol's remark on the 15th to "set the CSAT within the scope of public education," and the expansion of the audit on the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation initiated by the Prime Minister's Office to the Ministry of Education, attention is focused on the extent of strong measures that will be included in the Ministry's private education cost reduction announcement on the 26th.

Professor Park Dae-kwon of the Academy of Korean Studies said, "The currently discussed government private education measures are regulation-oriented," adding, "Since there are areas of private education, such as repeat students, that public education cannot cover, appropriate measures should be created to eliminate abnormally excessive parts of private education, such as high-priced private tutoring."

Meanwhile, according to surveys by the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea, total private education expenses in South Korea increased by 29.5% from 20.04 trillion won in 2007 to 25.9538 trillion won last year. The average monthly private education cost per student nearly doubled from 222,000 won in 2007 to 410,000 won last year. Notably, last year recorded the highest total private education expenses and average monthly private education cost per student ever.

Before the private education measures announcement on the 26th, the Ministry of Education plans to focus on cracking down on cases of private education 'interest cartels' pointed out by President Yoon and false or exaggerated advertisements by private academies. While illegal private education activities have been monitored through joint inspections by related ministries and metropolitan and provincial offices of education, the Ministry intends to uncover hidden illegal activities during this focused reporting period.

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