[Student Reporters] The South Korean Government Still Failing to Deal with Private Education

Dowan Suh / 11th, Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies

Thirteen students are intently listening and taking notes in a windowless classroom. It is past 11 a.m. and the students have been in the room for more than three hours. Some students are in their school uniforms because they did not have time to change after school. The teacher finally dismisses them after midnight but some of them remain to do independent-studying until 2 a.m.

This used to be the typical scene at hakwons located in Daechi South Korea. It was normal to see students roaming around the streets even after midnight. Daechi has been called the "educational capital" due to its concentration of hakwons and the late-night classes used to be the trademark of South Korea's private education industry. This is no longer true. These days it is hard to find a lighted hakwon after 10 p.m. thanks to the governmental regulations that ban these private educational institutions from running after 10 p.m.

Looking at the streets of Daechi one may think that the government is effectively regulating the private education industry of South Korea. However parents have found new ways to take advantage of private education.

"We just don't go to hakwons anymore" said Wonki Lee a high school junior. "Instead we just form groups and take private tutoring at cafes or other places. This way we can more easily fit classes into our schedule. Additionally private tutoring can be much more effective compared to hakwons with classes packed with students since we get to take classes with a small number of students with similar interests."

"The truth is that the governmental regulation is not working" said Lim a parent who only identified herself with her surname. "Private tutoring tends to be much more expensive than hakwons since it is mostly done in small groups. Not taking tutoring is not an option since most students are taking it. I do not want my son to fall behind others."

The excessive private education boom of South Korea has been an inherent problem of the nation's education system and every administration so far has failed to successfully deal with the issue. The same went for the current Lee administration. At the beginning of his term President Lee promised to lessen the cost of private education. However many people like Lim have been voicing their concerns that the current administration's policies are ineffective and carry too many side-effects.