Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Lawmaker targets English cram lessons for toddlers after level test ban
A student looks at a phone while walking through Daechi-dong, an area known for its dense cluster of elite private academies in southern Seoul, Dec. 21, 2025. Newsis
By Jung Min-ho
Bill would ban academic classes for preschoolers under 3, cap others at 40 minutes a day
A lawmaker who led this week’s ban on English level tests for preschoolers is now vowing to push a far more sweeping proposal that would sharply curb academic lessons for children at so-called “English kindergartens” and other private institutes in Korea.
On Thursday, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons Act in order to ban level tests used by private institutes to screen or rank preschool students for their programs. This law will come into force six months after passage.
Only low‑pressure diagnostic checks will be allowed after a child is enrolled, and only with prior parental consent, using observation‑style activities intended to support learning rather than rank children. Detailed standards for these diagnostics will be set later by enforcement ordinances.
A senior aide in the office of Rep. Kang Kyung-sook of the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, who led the legislation effort, welcomed the passage but stressed that it represents only “half” of the lawmaker’s early-childhood agenda.
“The other half is a separate bill targeting study time for preschoolers at private institutes,” the secretary told The Korea Times. “Since the bill subcommittee will convene throughout this year, we will make it a priority to keep bringing this bill forward.”
The reform bill would define academic classes for those under 36 months as “overteaching” and ban them outright, while limiting similar school‑style lessons for older preschoolers to 40 minutes a day. Violators could face business suspension or shutdown orders, with tutors who work individually also subject to the same rule.
“The bill would, in effect, ban any instruction for children under 36 months that is aimed at cognitive outcomes, and for children older than that we are tying the limit to the first‑grade schedule, which only allows 40 minutes for the first period,” the aide said. “Some people argue this infringes on children’s autonomy or right to learn. Others ask how we are going to define ‘cognitive instruction’ in practice.”
Given the disputes over children’s right to learn, the definition of some terms used in the bill and its potentially far‑reaching impact on hagwon businesses, it is likely to require extensive committee debate and compromise before it can move forward, she said.
Still, with progressive parties now controlling both the executive and legislative branches of government, supporters say the bill stands a better chance than before, even if it is likely to face a long stretch of committee debate and resistance from hagwon businesses.
Despite Korea’s shrinking school‑age population, the English education for young children sector has continued to expand. According to Education Ministry data, the number of so‑called “English kindergartens” jumped from 615 nationwide in 2019 to 842 in 2023, while over the same period the number of ordinary kindergartens fell from 8,837 to 8,441.
According to another government survey on early childhood private education spending, 47.6 percent of children aged five or younger took part in private lessons between July and September 2024. Participation rates were 24.6 percent for children under the age of 2, 50.3 percent for 3‑year‑olds, 68.9 percent for 4‑year‑olds and 81.2 percent for 5‑year‑olds, with average monthly spending per child reaching 332,000 won ($223).