Citizens' Coalition for an Academic-Free Society
Calls for Legal Grounds for Sanctions
An education civic group has called for institutional reform after it was recently revealed during an inspection by educational authorities that eight early childhood English academies in the Gwangju area were openly conducting 'level tests'.
On July 28, the Citizens' Coalition for an Academic-Free Society (Haksamo), an educational and social organization, issued a statement saying, "It is urgent to establish a legal basis to guarantee the rights of young children." They pointed out that level tests or the formation of ability-based classes for young children are inappropriate teaching practices, but there is currently no legal basis for sanctions.
Haksamo stated, "Some academies used the test results as a tool for ranking young children, such as reflecting them in class assignments," and added, "Until now, only the number of early childhood English academies in Gwangju and their high tuition fees were known, and the specific educational processes had not been revealed. However, this investigation has exposed the reality and the overheated competition surrounding the so-called '4-year-old exam' and '7-year-old exam'.
After Haksamo raised the issue of level tests being conducted at some early childhood English academies in Gwangju in May, the Gwangju Western Office of Education conducted a special inspection of 19 local early childhood English academies last month. As a result, level tests were found to be openly conducted at eight of these academies.
Subsequently, two cases of unregistered or unreported tuition fees and two cases of irregularities in operating experiential learning programs were discovered, resulting in an administrative warning with 10 penalty points. According to local ordinances, academies may face penalties ranging from 31 to 66 points, which can lead to a 7-day business suspension or even cancellation of registration.
In a separate inspection of unfair advertising practices, one case of improper use of names, two cases of unregistered hiring or dismissal of instructors, one case of unregistered changes to facilities or equipment, and two cases of tuition fees not indicated or only partially indicated in advertisements were found. One unregistered academy was reported to the police.
English academies for young children are commonly referred to as 'English kindergartens (Yeongyu)', but they are established and operated under the Private Academy Act.
According to the Early Childhood Education Act, if an institution that is not a kindergarten uses the name 'kindergarten' or a similar term, it may be subject to closure or a fine of up to 5 million won.
Haksamo emphasized, "We will continue to monitor the overheating of private English education for young children and the illegal or improper operation of academies, and will propose amendments to the Private Academy Act to the National Assembly and educational authorities to reduce the burden of private education costs on parents and to guarantee the rights of young children."
Previously, the civic group World Without Worries About Private Education announced that, in a survey of 1,733 directors and teachers of early childhood institutions nationwide, 76.1% responded that they opposed the participation of young children in private education. In addition, 91.7% of respondents considered the so-called 'level tests' conducted at English private education institutions for young children to be a violation of human rights.
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