77% of Students Get Private Tutoring
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Korea is the land of private tutoring with Korean parents spending 20.4 trillion won on private education last year.
Parents of students with higher achievements turned out to be spending more on private tutoring, showing that classes at schools may be falling behind cram schools in quality.
According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), parents spent an average of 222,000 won per child on private education monthly last year. The statistical office surveyed 34,000 parents of students in 272 elementary, junior and high schools around the country.
The survey showed that three out of four students, or 77 percent, are getting some form of private education, such as cram schools, private tutoring, or online classes, dedicating an average of 7.8 hours each week. When excluding students not getting any form of private education, those who did were spending 288,000 won on average.
It estimated private education cost 20 trillion won last year, which is close to 1/10th of the country's budget.
More than half of the students were depending on private education for mathematics and English. Cram schools were the most popular form of private education, with 47.2 percent of students attending, followed by worksheet programs sent home and private tutoring.
The survey showed that rich, highly educated parents spend more on private education. While only half of parents who only finished middle school provided some form of private education for their children, around 90 percent of parents with college diplomas did. The richest households, with over 7 million won in monthly income, spent 468,000 won on average, while those making below 1 million won spent only 53,000 won a month.
Students in Seoul were spending more than double of what students in provinces spend in private education.
Parents picked college entrance exams and the preference for highly valued degrees as the main reason why they are spending so much on private education. High school students said the classes at school are not helpful enough.
Students with better school performance turned out to be relying more on private education. In case of those in the top 10 percent at school, nearly 90 percent were getting private education, spending 300,000 won a month. Those in the bottom 20 percent, meanwhile, were spending 120,000 won, and half of them didn't get any form of private education.