Private kindergartens to delay opening for new semester

Members of the Korea Kindergarten Association rally in front of the National Assembly on Yeouido in Seoul, Monday, against new bills that would impose stronger financial regulations on kindergarten operators. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

Faced with mounting government pressure to improve their financial transparency, private kindergarten owners announced an all-out suspension of operations Thursday, saying they would delay the start of the spring semester indefinitely.

The decision, which was announced just four days before the new semester's scheduled start Monday, is likely to bring huge inconvenience to parents of preschool children.

“We will delay opening our kindergartens for the new semester until the government changes its stance,” Lee Deok-sun, head of the Korea Kindergarten Association (KKA), said in a press conference at the association's office in central Seoul. “The Ministry of Education has refused our calls for dialogue and continued with its persecution of private kindergartens.”

The KKA warned the delay will continue until the government agrees to scrap three bills targeting kindergarten operations. The bills, currently pending at the National Assembly due to opposition from the Liberal Korea Party, would make private kindergartens use Edufine, a state-run accounting system, as well as ban owners from serving as administrative heads, and subject canteen food to the same standards as public preschools.

The KKA has repeatedly lashed out at calls for public accountability, saying private kindergartens should be considered the operator's “private property.”

However, it said it would take a step back and accept Edufine, which private kindergarten operators were told to adopt following revelations of rampant corruption at privately run kindergartens last October.

As to the KKA's move, the ministry said the collective suspension was in violation of the Child Education Act and the Fair Trade Act, saying it will take administrative action against the 2,274 participating kindergartens.