Cram school owners oppose tighter restrictions

A public official disinfects a cram school in Mok-dong, southwestern Seoul, June 1, amid the spread of COVID-19. Korea Times Photo by Ko Young-kwon

By Bahk Eun-ji

An association representing private cram school owners said Monday that it strongly opposed a proposed revision bill that will empower the education minister or provincial superintendents to order them to close when there is a serious alert for infectious diseases such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

While the revision is being pushed for the first time in four years ― since the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015 ― owners of the private academies claim the bill infringes on their “property rights.”

In particular, they are against part of the revision that stipulates stricter requirements for them to receive government compensation in the event of forced closures.

“We agree with the government's efforts to curb the coronavirus spread, but if you look at the revision closely, compensation for academies is only provided when public schools are closed,” said an official of the Korea Association of Hagwons (KAH). Hagwon is the Korean name for the private education institutes. “It seems the government is trying to avoid paying compensation for closures.”

According to the Ministry of Education, Rep. Kim Chul-min of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), a member of the National Assembly Education Committee, recently submitted the revision to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Tutoring Institutions and Extracurricular Lessons recently to the Assembly.

Under the revision, the education minister or the superintendents of regional education offices can restrict or ban gatherings of people in private institutions and tutoring centers to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

It also stipulates that measures can be taken in accordance with quarantine guidelines, such as disinfecting the buildings housing the academies, if the risk alert for infectious diseases is above “warning.”

If the infectious disease alert level becomes “serious,” the minister and superintendents can order the academies to close for a certain period, but the government will compensate them for losses caused by the shutdown.

The revision also included the basis for sanctions so that if a private cram school spreads an infection after violating a restriction order and fails to take preventive measures, as well as violating the order to shut down, the government can impose administrative measures such as a compulsory closure, penalties and fines.

The ruling party has started to revise the law because it judged that although there were coronavirus infection cases among students at private institutions, the effectiveness of quarantine work at those places was low because the minister and superintendents did not have the authority to order sanctions on them.

Currently, the heads of local education authorities and the Minister of Health and Welfare have the authority to restrict or ban gathering of people, including the operation of private institutions, under the Act on the Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases, but there are no compulsory measures that the education authorities can impose on the private cram schools.

In the wake of the 2015 MERS outbreak, the education ministry tried to revise the relevant law in 2016, including a rule that the education superintendent can recommend academies to be closed in the face of infectious diseases, but failed to achieve its goal. But the education ministry reiterated in June that it would revise the law as the need for quarantine management has resurfaced due to the rapid spread of COVID-19.