South Korean authorities on Monday formally announced plans to curb spending on private tutoring, including shortening “killer questions” in the national college entrance exam. The slow deletion of tutoring consumption is considered to be an important reason for the decline in South Korea’s fertility rate. It is reported that the number of tutoring shops in Seoul has reached 242.84 million, three times that of convenience stores.
South Korean protege joins annual college entrance exam
South Korean protege joins annual college entrance exam in Seoul.
Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister for Social affairs and head of the Education Ministry, said on Monday that the ministry will filter out extremely difficult questions that exceed the scale of education programs from the exam preparation stage, and encourage students to prepare for the exam within the framework of public education through a system such as public consultation. The education ministry said it would order the questions to be condensed in the college entrance exam in November. The Education Ministry also plans to create a staff committee for fair assessment of the college entrance exam, composed mainly of western students, and a review committee for fair examination of the college Entrance exam to ensure that the exam questions do not exceed the scope of the education education program. Senior governor Yin Xiyue commented this month that the university dropout test was classified as an unusual title in the curriculum of public schools and contained some “killer questions”.
In order to prevent private institutes from buying mock exams from western students and teachers with a history of writing questions, the committee members who write questions will be allowed to conduct lectures and consultations for profit for a certain period of time. The Ministry of Education vowed to attack private teaching “cartels” and step up efforts to monitor false and exaggerated advertisements issued by private schools in relation to examinations.
Local media reported that when editors needed private advice to control high test questions, the authorities instructed officials to make some kind of contact with the private tutoring industry. The government said it could take enforcement action against those who conspired to profit from difficult gaokao questions. In addition, the ministry will revise the curriculum for children aged three to five and reduce the need for after-school classes in kindergartens and elementary schools.
According to reports, the number of tutoring shops in Seoul reached 242.84 million in May, three times that of convenience stores 8,597. According to a joint report by the Education Ministry and the National Statistics Bureau, despite the decline in the number of students, Korea s income from private education last year reached a record 26 trillion won, with nearly 80 percent of students joining private education institutes. Another report last year noted that this heavy dependence on private education has helped South Korea to have the world’s highest child-rearing costs and lowest birth rate.