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[Real Reality]

Illegal hagwons are under fire

The city's superintendent of education, You In-jong, told a press conference yesterday that a crackdown on "illegal" cram schools will begin on Nov. 24 and run through March. "The office of education will be waging war against illegal hagwons," he said.

Excessive fees and classes held after 10 p.m. are the main targets of the effort to put pressure on the schools. Unaccredited schools will be shut down and their operators will face a maximum punishment of one year in prison or a fine of 3 million won ($2,600). They will also be subject to special tax audits. Teaching certificates will be checked.

The decision to go after hagwons is part of an effort to bring down the cost of private education to reasonable levels and to shift the focus of learning back to public schools, Mr. You said. The crackdown "will be nothing like what was seen before in scope and intensity," he said. The police officers will be empowered to knock doors down at the cram schools if necessary. Earlier attempts to control the hagwons lacked this sort of enforcement authority.

Students, parents and teachers agreed about the seriousness of the problem. Parents' faith in public education has been eroded by the cram schools, they said. A 10th grader in Seoul said he knows of students who are in cram classes until 1 a.m. "It would be a great idea to ban classes after 10 p.m.," he said.

The mother of a middle-school student in the Daechi area said sending her child to private classes has been a trying experience both financially and emotionally. She said she hoped the classes will disappear forever, but worried that the crackdown will simply drive the hagwons underground.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200311/14/200311140101560339900090409041.html

"Excessive fees and classes held after 10 p.m."
(What are excessive fees? "bring down the cost of private education to reasonable levels" What is a reasonable level? So, start classes at 6:00 AM or earlier.)

"Teaching certificates will be checked."
(What teaching certificate? I had a teaching certificate but are they required to teach in a hagwon. Do all the foreign and Korean teachers have teaching certificates?)

Good luck to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Staff.
Good luck to the police officers.

[ulsanchris]

I think the korean teachers are supposed to have degrees for the subjects they are supposed to be teaching. A teacher teaching math is supposed to have a math degree etc. NOt to sure about this though.
Also a lot of hogwans hire on korean teachers as support staff and not as actual teachers. They do this to avoid paying taxes. Most koreans teachers i have worked with have anything but an english degree.

[Ryst Helmut]

[shawner88]

I'm glad I teach out in the country....