The government is to introduce a law that bans private cram schools or hagwon from running after 10 p.m. after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and ruling Grand National Party lawmakers reached an agreement Wednesday.
Currently, the business hours differ by region. For example, the curfew for hagwon in Seoul is 10 p.m, while Gyeonggi Province allows secondary school students to study until 11 p.m.
Earlier this year, Kwak Seung-jun, the head of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, launched a bid for a 10 p.m. hagwon curfew in an effort to curtail private education costs, and proposed mobilizing police to enforce the law. However, this was scrapped as lawmakers and the ministry opposed the plan at the time.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
