Next Year's Ministry of Education Budget 104 Trillion 'Record High'... Establishing Reserve Funds Basis for Free Education for 5-Year-Olds

Passed the National Assembly Plenary Session on the Afternoon of the 10th
Second Largest Ever at 100 Trillion Won Scale
830 Million Won Cut, National Scholarship Budget Increased
Bill to Extend Free High School Education Also Underway

Next year's Ministry of Education budget exceeded 100 trillion won, marking an all-time high. While some cuts were made in the national scholarship budget, which was increased to the 5 trillion won range, the budget was increased mainly for new projects such as expanding medical school quotas and integrating early childhood education.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 11th, the Ministry of Education budget for next year, passed by the National Assembly plenary session the previous afternoon, totals 104.8684 trillion won. This is an increase of 9.0684 trillion won (9.5%) from this year's 95.8 trillion won. Following last year's 101.9979 trillion won, it is the second time in history that the budget exceeded 100 trillion won, making it the largest budget ever allocated.

Despite opposition party demands for cuts, the Ministry of Education budget was virtually reflected as per the government's original proposal. The reduced portion was 8.3 billion won, cut from the university student work-study scholarship budget within the national scholarship program, adjusting it to 627.4 billion won. However, the total national scholarship budget increased by 584.6 billion won from this year's 4.7205 trillion won to 5.3051 trillion won.

This is due to the expansion of the national scholarship support target from the 8th income bracket to the 9th income bracket this year. The 9th income bracket for student financial aid corresponds to 300% of the median income, which is a household with a monthly average income of 6.45 million won. With an additional 500,000 students in the 9th bracket, a total of 1.5 million students will receive national scholarship support next year.

A revision to the 2025 budget was approved at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On the other hand, budgets for free high school education and free education for 5-year-olds were not reflected in the budget proposal. However, a basis was established to cover the costs of free education and childcare for 5-year-olds through contingency funds. The general provisions of the next year's budget, approved on the day, include a clause allowing the use of 1.6 trillion won in earmarked contingency funds for "childcare fee support projects for promoting free education for 5-year-olds, amounting to 268.09 billion won."

Free high school education is a program that supports entrance fees, tuition, textbook fees, and school operation support fees for high school students, introduced in 2019. The special provision requiring the government (47.5%), education offices (47.5%), and local governments (5%) to share the budget will expire at the end of this year. A revision bill to extend this special provision for three years has been passed solely by the opposition party in the Education Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, awaiting plenary session approval.

Next year, 487.7 billion won will be invested to improve educational conditions following the expansion of medical school quotas. For expanding facilities at national university medical schools, 143.2 billion won will be invested, and 7.6 billion won for expanding laboratory and practical equipment, totaling 150.8 billion won. Additionally, 172.8 billion won has been allocated for loan support to private universities.

To promote the integration of early childhood education, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's childcare budget of 5.4 trillion won was also transferred to the Ministry of Education. The special account budget for higher and lifelong education support is 15.8718 trillion won, an increase of 830.6 billion won from this year's 15.0412 trillion won. The budget for the 'Regional Innovation-centered University Support System' (RISE) is 2 trillion won, up 800 billion won from this year's 1.2 trillion won. Furthermore, the local education finance grants provided to metropolitan and provincial education offices increased by 3.4062 trillion won from this year's 68.8732 trillion won to 72.2794 trillion won.