Busan Office of Education Supports Tuition Fees for Public and Private Kindergartens Across All Income Levels

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will support the 2023 academic year Nuri Curriculum tuition fees for children aged 3 to 5 attending public and private kindergartens in the Busan area.

The tuition support is due to the introduction of the Nuri Curriculum, which applies a national-level common education curriculum to kindergartens, and is a system that provides educational expenses support to all income levels regardless of the guardian's income level.

For public kindergartens, 150,000 KRW per child is supported, including 100,000 KRW for the education curriculum and 50,000 KRW for after-school programs. For private kindergartens, 350,000 KRW per child is supported, including 280,000 KRW for the education curriculum and 70,000 KRW for after-school programs.

Busan Office of Education.

In October last year, the Busan Office of Education amended the ‘Busan Metropolitan Office of Education Multicultural Education Promotion Ordinance’ to establish grounds for supporting tuition fees for foreign-nationality children.

Accordingly, starting from March, foreign-nationality children aged 3 to 5 who are registered as foreigners (residents) in Korea and attend public or private kindergartens in the Busan area will receive the same tuition support as Korean nationals.

Additionally, children from legally low-income families such as basic livelihood security recipients, near-poverty groups, and single-parent families who attend private kindergartens and are eligible for tuition support can receive additional support of up to 200,000 KRW per child per month within actual expenses.

Guardians of the children must pre-apply for tuition support by 6 p.m. on the 24th via the online Bokjiro site or by visiting a nearby administrative welfare center. Applications must be submitted before March to receive full tuition support for the respective month.

However, guardians of foreign-nationality children must visit the kindergarten in person to submit the tuition application form along with supporting documents such as a foreigner registration card issued within the last month.

Kim Sun-ryang, Director of the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Division at the Busan Office of Education, said, “Our education office will do its best to reduce parents’ educational expenses through non-discriminatory tuition support and to guarantee practical educational opportunities.”