Cost of private lessons hits 7 trillion won last year : MOE survey

Last year, extracurricular tutoring fees for primary, middle and high school students exceeded 7 trillion won and the fees charged by private tutors also increased. With the gap between rich and poor widening since the nation was put under the International Monetary Fund bailout program in 1997, residents of affluent districts in Kangnam, southern Seoul, and newly constructed satellite cities spent 50 percent for private lessons last year than in the previous year. The figure represents two or three times more than the average out-of-school tutoring expenses.

It was also disclosed that the parents of these students thought that the government`s reform policy measures, such as the abolition of supplementary classes on campuses, special education for talented students and special recruitment of freshmen at colleges and universities, fueled the frenzy for extracurricular education.

This was revealed in an opinion poll conducted by the Korean Education Development Institute and commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. The survey was conducted for one month starting Nov. 9 last year among a total of 25,242 respondents in 125 schools -- 12,459 students, 12,459 parents and 324 teachers.

According to an analysis of the survey results, despite last year`s Constitutional Court ruling against government decrees banning extracurricular tutoring for primary, middle and high school students, the amount of off-campus tutoring expenses reached 7.127 trillion won, an increase of 355.6 billion won or 5.2 percent from 6.772 trillion won in 1999.

The amount of off-campus tutoring money accounts for 31.4 percent of this year`s national budget for education, which is set at 22.7 trillion won. Moreover, if school fees for kindergarten children and contributions to school development, expenses for teaching materials and other costs are included in the outlays, the amount spent on private education would be much higher.

Meanwhile, asked about the impact of the government`s educational reform policies on extracurricular education, respondents noted that most of these government policy steps resulted in higher private tutoring expenses. The abolition of supplementary classes increased costs by 57.9 percent, the new college entrancement system for 2002 boosted expenses by 49.5 percent, horizontal evaluation system by 46.9 percent, special aptitude education for the talented by 30.5 percent, and the expansion of special enrollments by 42.6 percent.

[Yonhap]