Private education spending hits all-time high of 29 trillion won despite fewer students, gov't measures

Home > National > Social Affairs

Private education spending hits all-time high of 29 trillion won despite fewer students, gov't measures

Published: 13 Mar. 2025, 16:42 Updated: 14 Mar. 2025, 12:37

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Students leave an elementary school in Seoul on Feb. 13. [NEWS1]

Spending on private education in Korea has increased for the fourth consecutive year, reaching an all-time high of 29 trillion won ($20 billion) last year.

According to data released by the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea on Thursday, total expenditures on private education for elementary, middle and high school students exceeded 29.2 trillion won last year, up 2.1 trillion won compared to the previous year. The increase comes despite the total student population dropping from 5.21 million in 2023 to 5.13 million in 2024.

The survey was conducted last year on some 74,000 students at 3,000 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide.

Many Korean parents believe private education, such as private cram schools known as hagwon, is essential in giving their children a leg up academically and, ultimately, a better chance of entering a prestigious university, considered a sine qua non of success.

In recent years, the Yoon Suk Yeol government has been pushing for less dependence on private education, such as by removing questions outside the official school curricula, or "killer questions," from the College Scholastic Ability Test.

However, total spending on private education has risen again, climbing from 23.4 trillion won in 2021 to 26 trillion won in 2022 and 27.1 trillion won in 2023.

Last year, the percentage of students receiving private education peaked at 80 percent.

By school level, private education spending reached 13.2 trillion won for elementary school students, 7.8 trillion won for middle school students and 8.1 trillion won for high school students. Expenditures rose across all levels compared to the previous year, with a 6.5 percent increase for elementary school students, a 9.5 percent rise for middle school students and a 7.9 percent increase for high school students.

On average, parents spent 442,000 won per month on private education for elementary school students, 490,000 won for middle school students and 520,000 won for high school students.

By subject, English accounted for the highest proportion of private education spending, followed by math, Korean and social and natural sciences.

Regional disparities in spending were also evident. Parents in Seoul spent the most on private education, with an average expenditure of around 673,000 won per student each month — more than double the 320,000 won recorded in South Jeolla.

A man passes by an English-language kindergarten in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on March 13. [YONHAP]

On the same day, the Education Ministry and Statistics Korea released a pilot survey on private education spending for children below the age of six. The survey was carried out among 13,241 parents from July to September last year.

The data showed that, on average, households spent 332,000 won per month on private education for children below elementary school age.

A total of 815.4 billion won was spent by these parents during the three months last year, where those with a two-year-old child spent 85.8 billion won and those with a five-year-old child 351.9 billion won.

Nearly half of children under six, or 47.6 percent, received some form of private education, with subjects such as English, science and writing among the most commonly taught.

One out of five children under six attended hagwon for at least three hours.

The survey also found that wealthier households spent significantly more on early private education. Households earning at least 8 million won per month spent an average of 322,000 won monthly on educational activities for their young children.

While the average monthly cost for day care and kindergartens stood at 228,000 won, parents sending their children to private institutions, such as English-language kindergartens, spent an average of 1.54 million won per month.

According to the survey, more than half of parents enrolled their children in private education "to prepare them for elementary school."

The Education Ministry announced plans to conduct a full-scale survey on private education spending for preschool children next year to assess early education trends better and draw up policies to address early exposure to private education.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]