Seoul Education Office to Revise Ordinance for Classes Into Late Night

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The Seoul education authority said it will rewrite an ordinance to establish a legal ground for private cram schools or hagwon to operate late into the night.

In March, the Seoul Metropolitan Government Council tried to pass a new ordinance for the extension of hagwon hours but was forced to drop its plan in face of severe protest from the public and teachers.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Monday, it plans to allow hagwon to run until 11 p.m. from July. Currently, private cram schools have to close before 10 p.m. The curfew reflects concerns about students' health and growing private education costs.

The Seoul education authority has argued that the regulation limiting private institutes is impractical as in practice they nevertheless operate late into the night.

For the new plan, the authority has set a 45 million won budget for survey and public hearings. ``We will decide on the timetable and contents of the revision of the ordinance after taking public opinions into consideration,'' an official from the office said.

The official said it will seek the revision of the related rules in the second half.

However, teachers' groups are protesting the move. The Korean Federation of Teachers' Association, the nation's largest teachers' group said it will harm public education and students will neglect studying at schools. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union also said it will burden many parents and students by increasing private education costs.

However, the hagwon association is complaining that education authorities should consider that they don't have much time for doing business as many high schools force their students to study at schools until late.

According to Korean Statistics Information Service, last year 77 percent of students received private education paying on average 220,000 won per month; 89 percent of elementary school students, 75 percent of middle school students and 55 percent of high school students.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr