[Editorial] Low birthrate fueled by high education expense

The number of students declined by 40,000 to 5.28 million, but the cost of private education stretched by 2.6 trillion won ($2 billion) to 26 trillion won in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea. Private education spending rose 11 percent from the previous year, the highest increase since 2007.

Out-of-school education cost 410,000 won per student, gaining from 367,000 won in 2021 and 302,000 won in 2020. As students moved up in school levels, so did the cost for their education out of school. The spending was 372,000 won for elementary students, 438,000 won for middle-school students, and 460,000 won for high-school students. The rate of private education also hit the record-high of 78.3 percent, with 85.2 percent of elementary school students taking some form of private lessons.

The data underscores the depth of distrust in public education. Remote schooling during the pandemic was partly the reason. But fundamentally, schools are failing to do their role despite plentiful budget. Some 20 percent of domestic tax is automatically assigned as education tax. Education budget has been rising in line with tax revenue growth despite the decline in students. Public education expenditure per student that was at the bottom when the country first joined the OECD is now among the highest.

Yet, academic standards are rapidly deteriorating. The ratio of middle schoolers underperforming the basic standards surged 6 times for the Korean language over the 2012-2021 period and math 3.3 times. For high schoolers, the ratio rose 3.4 times for Korean language and 3.3 times for math. Academic standards have sharply fallen amid less focus on grades in public schools over the last 10 years despite ever-intensifying competition over select colleges.

Private education cost becomes a bigger social problem as it is the major reason for young people choosing not to have a child. According to a survey by the Korea Population, Health, and Welfare Association last year, the young people aged 19 to 34 pointed to the burden from childcare and education cost (57 percent) as the primary reason for not having a baby.

The government must address the private education issue in the context of low birth. Public education standards should be improved sharply so that students have no need for private education. For lower age, schools must provide greater after-school care. Parents have to send kids to academies because they cannot find care for their kids after school.

Public policy addressing low birth has not worked so far despite enormous government spending, as it did not provide what would-be parents worry most. Housing cost, childcare burden, and other issues scaring women from having children must be addressed one by one. Such approach to reform public education can end up helping birthrate issue.