Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education to Fully Implement Free Education for 1st Year High School Students Starting Second Semester

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 14th that, considering the impact of COVID-19, it will fully expand free education for first-year high school students, originally scheduled for next year, starting from the second semester of this year.

This decision by the Gwangju Office of Education is reported to be aimed at alleviating the economic burden experienced by parents due to the spread of COVID-19 in the Gwangju area.

The eligible students for support are 10,926 public and private high school students, excluding those already exempted or supported such as legal exemptions, with a required budget of approximately 8.8 billion KRW.

After a legislative notice in July and August, the 'Gwangju Metropolitan City School Tuition and Admission Fees Ordinance Enforcement Rules' will be amended, and the budget will be secured through the second supplementary budget.

With the early realization of free education, first-year high school students will not have to pay tuition and school operation support fees starting from September, reducing the parental burden by about 810,000 KRW per student.

High school free education began targeting third-year students from the second semester of 2019, expanded to second-year students this year, and was planned to be implemented for first-year students in the 2021 academic year; however, the Office of Education has advanced the full implementation of free education by six months using its own budget.

Hong Yangchun, Director of Administration at the Gwangju Office of Education, said, “Although there are difficulties in financial management due to the COVID-19 emergency situation, we plan to secure the budget from reduced or expired projects within this year’s education office business plan to ensure there are no setbacks in advancing free education.”