Private education expenses hit a record high of 23.4 trillion won ($18.9 billion) last year, up 21 percent from 2020, according to a survey by Statistics Korea. The rate of participation in after-school classes among elementary to high school students rose from 67.1 percent to 75.5 percent over that period. The average length of private tutoring also increased by 1.5 hours to 6.7 hours per week. In conclusion, not only has the time spent on private education grown, but the total amount of spending and rate of participation also increased.
It is difficult to consider surging private tutoring costs separately from poor public education. The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic might have sped up the deterioration in the quality of school education, but the pandemic should not bear all the blame. Nor can the increase of one-child families or overzealous college entrance exams explain soaring private tutoring expenses because these are long-standing problems. The fundamental reason is that schools, of all levels, are not functioning properly. It is hard to know how high the amount spending will go up this and next year.
Looking back at a series of education policies, the crisis in public education is inevitable. Due to the government's rejection of education that encourages academic excellence, schools have been standardized with low expectations.
In responding to COVID-19, the government was also mired in controversy over unscientific quarantine while neglecting substantive countermeasures, such as internet lectures and remote classes. As a result, the gap continued to widen between classes offered by schools and private academies.
It is incomprehensible that educational authorities are failing to normalize school education amid a declining number of students and rising educational outlays.
Despite numerous petitions, 20.79 percent of the internal tax revenue goes to regional education offices in the name of local education financial grants. Where did they spend the astronomical amount of 60.33 trillion won last year? Worse yet, the number of students with below-standard academic levels is rising, widening the educational divide. All this shows why normalizing public education ought to be one of the top reform tasks of the incoming administration.