83% of five-year-olds receive private tutoring
By Chung Hyun-chae
Preschool children in Korea are suffering because of excessive private education, with more than eight in 10 children receiving extra lessons, the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education said Monday.
According to a report from the institute, 35.5 percent of two-year-olds and 83.6 percent of five-year-olds attend private academies.
The report is based on a survey conducted with 537 parents of two-year-olds and 704 parents of five-year-olds nationwide from August to October last year.
Private education here includes education provided at hagwons, culture centers or at home, ranging from academic subjects to art and sports, either online or offline, besides education given at daycare centers or kindergartens.
The report showed that the two-year-old children received 2.6 private education sessions per week, spending an average 47.6 minutes for one session, while five-year-old children received 5.2 sessions per week, averaging 50.1 minutes each.
Some 28 percent of two-year-olds received private tutoring in Korean language-related subjects including Hangeul learning, reading and essay writing, followed by physical education with 15.1 percent, art with 14.5 percent and science with 10.2 percent.
For five-year-olds, 24.5 percent of them received Korean language-related subjects followed by physical education with 19 percent, math with 17.3 percent and art with 11 percent.
Parenting experts warned that excessive private education can have a serious impact on a child’s development and emotional well-being by causing depression and aggression.
“Such learning hours are too much for young children and should be regulated,” a researcher at the institute said.
“The surveyed parents said they know excessive private tutoring can cause problematic behavior, but thought that the private education that their children were receiving was not excessive or even enough. Parents are also in need of education programs where they can learn about children’s development processes.”