By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
As elementary school summer breaks come to an end, Web sites offering homework services in exchange for money are prevalent.
On one of the Web sites, a child, who identifies himself as a sixth-grade elementary student in Seoul, is looking for a person who can do his homework with a post saying ``I need to write three English diaries by the end of this week. I don't really want to write them, who can write for me and how much do I have to pay?''
A portal site introduces more than 500 Web sites related to homework, and a growing number of elementary students visit the sites to offload their tasks to others.
The sites are also enticing students with advertisements such as ``Why don't you get out of stress due to your boring homework?'' or ``We can solve your homework problems cheaply.'' The fees for homework doers range from 8,000 won to 10,000 won per case.
Also, there are Web sites where children can download completed homework. One of the sites has more than 1.2 million members and they can pay fees through their home or mobile phone. Usually they can download material for 500 won. One Web site allows the members to download all data for 16,500 won a month.
Some other Web sites provide space for students to share all kinds of homework such as travel reports and famous book reviews.
Experts worry that these sites could send the wrong message to students in that they can buy whatever they want if they have money. Schools have been advised to set homework topics specific to the student.
``Children cannot develop creativity and problem-solving abilities if they do not do their homework by themselves. I think parents' roles are important for children doing homework. They need to pay more attention and help them do homework,'' an education ministry official Ham Seok-dong said.