Tag: Education

For those that didn’t know, you have to pay to attend high school in South Korea. Elementary and middle school education is currently free and soon so will high school:

The South Korean government and the ruling Democratic Party have decided to allocate the Korean New Deal and the Youth Hope Package more than 20 trillion won (US$16.9 billion) each in the 2021 budget. The funding will make high school education free for all students next year, one year ahead of schedule. The government will also be greatly expanding the supply of public rental housing for young people and newlyweds.

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link, but the natural progression of this is that people will be demanding free college next.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out because in the U.S. universities did not give discounted or refunded tuition to students that were forced into online learning either:

South Korean university students have joined together to file a class action lawsuit against the Ministry of Education and schools, seeking partial tuition refunds for disruptions to learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Movement for Tuition Refunds, a student group formed by the National University Student Council, held a press briefing on Wednesday in front of the Seoul Central District Court to call on universities to refund part of their spring tuition.

Some 3,500 students from 42 universities nationwide have participated in the class action lawsuit, according to the group.

The global crisis caused by the novel coronavirus has created a major disruption in the way the country’s higher education institutions offer classes. As schools shut down and classes are being offered remotely, there have been continuing complaints from students that they are not getting what they paid for.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This month South Korean children will be heading back to school as early as May 13th:

South Korea on Monday announced plans to reopen schools starting next week, more than two months after schools were closed in a precautionary measure against the new coronavirus that has infected more than 10,000 here.

“Starting on May 20, which is two weeks after key holidays in May, we will push to (reopen schools) in a phased and sequential process,” Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said at a press briefing.

Under the plan, high school seniors will return to school on May 13, while other grades will return to school gradually in the following weeks.

Students in grade 2 of high school, grade 3 of middle school and grades 1 and 2 in elementary schools will return on May 20, while those in grade 1 of high school, grade 2 of middle school and grades 3 and 4 in elementary schools will go back on May 27. Students in grade 1 of middle school and grades 5 and 6 in elementary school will return on June 1.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Online classes for South Korean students began this week:

The government had postponed the new school year, which usually starts in March, by five weeks to Monday. But the plan changed as unexpected cluster infections broke out in various parts of the country.

Last week, the government announced plans to first resume online classes for seniors at middle and high schools before expanding the remote learning program to other grades. 

Grades one and two at middle schools and high schools, as well as grades four to six at elementary schools, will begin the new semester next Thursday. Grades one to three at elementary schools will start taking online classes from April 20. The national college entrance exam has been pushed back by two weeks to Dec. 3. 

Classes at kindergartens and child care centers have been indefinitely postponed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems this was bound to happen:

 South Korea will begin the new school year with online classes on April 9 following repeated delays due to the novel coronavirus, the prime minister said Tuesday.

The unprecedented move to introduce online classes will be applied step by step at schools, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, without elaborating.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is interesting that the Korean government is delaying the school term across the country, but are still allowing in 70,000 Chinese college students:

South Korea said Sunday it will postpone the new school year, set to start next month, as part of efforts to tackle the new coronavirus after the number of patients spiked to more than 600.

“To prevent the spread of infection, and for the safety of students and school faculty, the education ministry will postpone the first day of the 2020 school year at kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools across the country by a week,” Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said in a government press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What does it say that so many mainland Chinese living outside their country with full access to global media and information still fiercely condemn protesters in Hong Kong. Patriotic education and propaganda instilled since youth works!

— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) August 31, 2019

What's behind North Korea's recent efforts to promote the education sector?: https://t.co/R1dzIX0x5q

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) March 31, 2019

I agree that the word “American” should be kept in the name of the school to distinguish it from other international schools in South Korea:

After a public outcry, the word “American” was restored to the name of the soon-to-be-consolidated middle/high school at the Army’s Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, officials said Wednesday.

“Please know that we acknowledge and appreciate the proud legacy of our Seoul American Schools,” Lois Rapp, a Department of Defense Education Activity official, said in an email. “The combined school will be named Seoul American Middle/High School.”

Falling enrollment due to the ongoing move of U.S. troops and their families to Camp Humphreys as the military transitions its headquarters 40 miles south of Seoul prompted DODEA to combine the Seoul American Middle School and the Seoul American High School.

In a memo to parents and a recent town hall, school officials said the combined school would be called the Seoul Middle High School.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.