5-day school week to be in full swing from 2012

By Kim Tae-jong

From next year, primary and secondary schools will close every Saturday, the government said Tuesday. Currently, schools are shuttered every second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

In a first phase, the government will conduct a pilot run of the five-day school week system at selected schools from the second half of this year to assess whether any supplementary measures are needed.

Full implementation of the system will be in the form of schools being allowed to decide on the five-day school system on their own, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.

“The bottom line is to give schools more discretion so that they can flexibly decide on how to implement the system. Schools need to take into consideration their own circumstances for implementation,” a ministry official said.

The plan to implement the system comes as workplaces with more than five employees must adopt a five-day work week system from July 1 this year.

But the government announcement drew mixed responses from teachers and parents — as the plan will affect the overall education system — who pointed out the need for complementary measures.

The Korean Teachers & Education Workers’ Union (KTU) said the government should first come up with detailed measures to reduce the school curriculum.

“We basically support the five-day school week,” said Sohn Chung-mo, vice spokesperson of the KTU. “But taking all Saturdays off at schools without reducing the total number of classes means students have to study more on weekdays, which is not in tune with the purpose of the new system.”

Parent groups also pointed out a five-day school week system will only lead to more private education and cause disadvantages to students whose parents don’t have the ability to accommodate extracurricular activities on Saturdays.

“There are some parents who have to work on Saturdays and for them, it will be hard to offer interesting experiences every weekend like affluent families,” said Jang Eun-sook, head of the Parents’ Association for Truthful Education. “And many students will go to private education institutes on Saturdays.”