Revival of High School Supplementary Classes

High school supplementary classes are likely to be allowed overall from April. Winter vacation will begin a little late from January and the spring breaks and the classes in February will be abolished. And the supervision over the illegal midnight classes of private education facilities will be much strengthened.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resourced Development reported to the President `Review On Public Education and Countermeasures to Insure the Substantiality of Education,` including the implementation of after school classes and specialized education programs by the decision of principals after having deliberations of the local school operation committees.

The Education Ministry revealed that “the compulsory after school programs or classes to over the regular curriculum will be prohibited. Schools must carry out specialized education programs for the volunteering students.”

However, high school teachers anticipated that it would end up with an actual supplementary classes considering that many schools are already operating special lessons for English, Korean, and Mathematics by inviting lectures from outside under the pressure of student parents.

The Education Ministry also decided to have a winter vacation from January to February, shifted from current December 20th through early February.

Therefore, the elementary and secondary schools are expected to have more time for the transference of teachers and the preparation of the classes since they could complete the class schedule by the end of December and the teachers reorganization would be completed earlier than current late February.

The Education Ministry will urged the private education organization to keep the legal class hours and intensively control the illegal operation or midnight classes through local Education Centers. The Ministry also recommends the private education organizations to use on-line system for payments.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry will allow schools to revise school regulation for inevitable physical punishment to increase the teacher`s authority. The Ministry is also moving to introduce joint evaluation exams by local education centers and to strengthen the national scholastic adaptation tests.

inchul@donga.com