Some Exceed 30 Million Won... Private High School Parents' Fees 19 Times Higher Than Public High Schools

Average Burden of 8.62 Million KRW for Private High School Students' Parents
Government Maintains "Retention" Amid Concerns Over Expanding Educational Inequality

The legislative notice procedure for the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which includes the preservation of autonomous private high schools (Jasago), foreign language high schools (Oego), and international high schools (Gukje-go), will be completed on the 22nd. Among them, it was revealed that the average parental burden per student at autonomous private high schools last year reached 8.62 million won.

According to the data on 'Parental Burden per Student in 2022' received by Rep. Lee Eun-ju of the Justice Party from the Ministry of Education and the Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI) on the 19th, the parental burden per student at Jasago last year was 8,624,000 won. The nationwide Jasago exceeded this with 12,237,000 won, while metropolitan Jasago was recorded at 7,469,000 won.

Parental burden includes various beneficiary charges such as tuition fees, admission fees, school operation support fees (registration fees), meal fees, dormitory fees, and after-school activity fees. Although tuition and textbook fees are free except for some private schools due to the implementation of free high school education, parents still bear expensive tuition fees in the case of Jasago.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the case of general high schools, the parental burden per student was only 466,000 won. The parental burden per student at Jasago is 18.5 times that of general high schools. In the case of a certain Jasago (School A), it was found that parents pay 30,638,000 won per year. This is the first time a high school with parental burden exceeding 30 million won has appeared. Although less than Jasago, the average parental burden for foreign language high schools and international high schools was 7,598,000 won and 4,899,000 won, respectively.

Accordingly, concerns have been raised that educational inequality in high schools based on parents' economic power may expand. According to Statistics Korea, as of August last year, the average monthly wage of non-regular workers was 1,881,000 won, amounting to about 22,572,000 won annually. It is calculated that even if they save every penny, they cannot send their children to School A Jasago.

For this reason, the Ministry of Education decided to uniformly convert Jasago, Oego, and Gukje-go into general high schools by 2025. However, under the current government, this decision was reversed again, citing the diversification of students' high school choices.

Currently, the Ministry of Education is in the process of legislative notice for the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to preserve Jasago, Oego, and Gukje-go. If the collection of opinions is completed by the 22nd, the amendment of the enforcement decree is expected to be completed around the end of the year, confirming their preservation.

Song Kyung-won, policy committee member of the Justice Party, criticized the enforcement decree preserving Jasago and Oego, saying, "As the administration changes, education policy is reversed, becoming a 'five-year small plan' (오년지소계, 五年之小計)."