Youngest Child's English Kindergarten Costs 14 Million Won a Year... More Than Twice That of College-Aged Older Sibling

Average Monthly Private Education Expenses for Infants and Toddlers Rise to 1.2 Million Won
Academies Preparing for the '7-Year-Old Exam' Also Flourish

As private education expenses for elementary, middle, and high school students continue to reach record highs, the average monthly private education cost for so-called "English kindergartens," or early childhood English academies, has also surpassed 1.2 million KRW.

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On the 25th, Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, revealed that according to data submitted by the Ministry of Education, the average monthly tuition and other expenses for early childhood English academies reached 1.21 million KRW as of December last year. Other expenses include additional costs such as meal fees, clothing fees, transportation fees, and mock exam fees. Compared to the average annual tuition for a 4-year university, which was 6,795,200 KRW last year, the annual cost burden on parents for early childhood English academies amounts to 14.52 million KRW, which is 2.14 times the university tuition.

The average monthly tuition fee is 1,109,000 KRW, and the average monthly other expenses are 101,000 KRW. By region, the order is ▲Sejong (1,486,000 KRW) ▲Incheon (1,425,000 KRW) ▲Seoul (1,417,000 KRW) ▲Chungnam (1,374,000 KRW).

Despite the decline in the school-age population, the number of early childhood English academies continues to increase steadily. Over the past five years (2019?2023), the number of early childhood English academies nationwide has grown as follows: ▲2019 (615 locations) ▲2020 (700 locations) ▲2021 (718 locations) ▲2022 (811 locations) ▲2023 (842 locations).

Assemblyman Kang stated, "The level test for famous elementary English academies after graduating from early childhood English academies is called the '7-year-old exam.' Despite the decrease in the school-age population, the early childhood private education market is becoming increasingly overheated. Many children receive private education from the infancy stage, and the gap in private education expenses is proportional to income disparities." He added, "Since this leads to educational inequality based on parents' backgrounds, the government needs to prepare public education measures."

Meanwhile, the number of English academies targeting young children in Gangnam, where parents have to bear nearly 2 million KRW per month, is steadily increasing. These academies require a separate entrance fee of 400,000 to 500,000 KRW, and only those who pass the "level test" can attend, making the competition increasingly intense.

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