Gov`t to provide textbooks to high schoolers free of charge

The government will provide textbooks to high school students free of charge, a move related to President-elect Park Geun-hye’s campaign pledge of a free high school education.

A Dec. 14 ministerial meeting on prices chaired by Strategy and Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan decided on a plan to stabilize education spending by the people. Textbook prices skyrocketed 36.6 percent last year and rose 11.3 percent this year, worsening the burden of parents, according to the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.

To stabilize textbook prices, the government will use guidelines for price negotiations when deliberating the estimated prices of authorized textbooks from next year to 2015. The guidelines will include standards for the education minister’s price adjustment recommendation, meaning that he or she will have the power to actively participate in the pricing process.

The government pays for the textbooks of about 315,000 students from families living on welfare or those in the low-income bracket. Under the new plan, however, all high schoolers will be eligible to get free textbooks.

An Education Ministry official said, “The plan will be implemented in phases. In 2014, those living on islands or in small villages and towns in rural areas will benefit from the plan. From 2015, however, all high school sophomores will receive free textbooks. Juniors will get them from 2016 and seniors from 2017.”

President-elect Park pledged a free high school education gradually starting from 2014. For starters, a fourth of high school students will get free education in 2014, and another fourth will be added each year until the figure reaches 100 percent in 2017.

Experts say the government`s decision will practically begin to implement President-elect Park’s free education policies.

In addition, a crackdown will start on illegal practices by private academic institutes and tutors from this winter vacation. Six areas were added to the list of specially controlled areas to clamp down on the illegal running of such institutes.

The six areas are Seoul’s Gangdong district, western Gwangju, western Daejeon, the Gyeonggi Province cities of Suwon and Yongin and Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province. Private academies that charge excessive tuition will be reported to the National Tax Service.

The government is also set to lower kindergarten tuition. The Education Ministry and educational offices will run a team to inspect kindergarten tuition next month and February. Kindergartens found to have illegally raised tuition will be denied government subsidies.

tnf@donga.com