Gov't to offer free pre-school education for 5-year-olds

By Kang Hyun-kyung

From next year, the government will sponsor two-thirds of tuition for all five-year-old pre-schoolers and from 2016, all of it.

In a press briefing, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Monday that free education will expand to 10 years from the current nine.

“Under the current system, elementary and middle school students receive free education,” said Kim. “Recently there has been a growing call for expanding the years of free education covered by state subsidies and an increasing role of the government in this regard.”

Under the plan, pre-schoolers or all five-year-olds will also learn the same curriculum from next year no matter which program they attend.

The prime minister said that looking after children and providing quality education for infants and pre-school children was crucial for the future of the government.

“The age five is a very important period for all children as the foundation for their intellectual and social ability is mainly shaped at this point,” Kim said.

The government will gradually expand state subsidies year by year to cover the entire tuition of five-year olds by 2016. By 2016, about 400,000 five-year-olds attending kindergarten or childcare centers will be entitled to 300,000 won for pre-school tuition every month.

In a radio broadcast speech, President Lee Myung-bak previewed the measure, adding that the government will keep working on the quality of childcare and education services.

No uniform curriculum is currently in place for pre-school programs.

As a result, children receive different levels and quality of education. This often led to an educational divide between children from high- and low-income families.

Factors behind low birthrates have also caused the government to spend more on pre-school programs. Married couples are reportedly discouraged from having children due to soaring household spending on private tutoring including childcare fees.

Earlier, a presidential committee put forth lowering the age of students eligible to enter elementary schools from the current six years old.

But educators and policymakers opposed the proposal. Free pre-school programs for five-year olds were suggested as an alternative.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

education taking a new stance here.

Good news.

By Kang Hyun-kyung

“Under the current system, elementary and middle school students receive free education,” said Kim.

High school students don't?

High School students, even public high school students, must pay tuition.

High School students, even public high school students, must pay tuition.

Not to mention having to afford the overpriced school uniforms for most middle and high school students. 

How much is it?

I think this is nice, but I'd rather see the money go into free public high schools instead...

lol anytime any government says it'll provide "free" anything i can't help but laugh to myself. where did they get the money to make this program "free" to begin with? oh yeah, that's right! the tax payer! it's nice to offer other ppl things that you yourself are not paying for especially if the recipient is fronting the bill eh?

it's different if individuals themselves saw it fit to appropriate money towards the program, but i guess since the lifestyle out here is much more authoritarian no one would really question it. i'd be much more happier if the reputable "chaebol" of korea opened affordable hagwons for low-income families just so that spending is accounted for. or perhaps i'm too western.

on the other hand.... korean work ethic is made so that they can overwork a lot of employees and separate parents from their kids, leaving the "community" to raise them. perhaps economics/costs are not necessarily considered in this respect if salary and wages are secondary or even tertiary to "duty." in light of this, i guess if they want to throw money into a system that largely overworks the employees in exchange for "free" public babysitting, that's largely up to them.... errr the "authorities"