Gov’t to expand after-school programs to fight low birthrate
Concerns remain as expansion requires huge increase in human resources
President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Ministry of Education vowed, Monday, to dramatically expand beforeand after-school care programs to all elementary schools throughout the country this year in a bid to cope with low birthrate challenges.
The programs, which operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., provide various education programs and care services to elementary school students who need such services, mostly because both parents are working.
Usually, school hours for first graders at elementary schools in Korea begin at about 9 a.m. and end at about 1 p.m. or 2 p.m.
“After-school care programs will be expanded to 2,000 elementary schools within the first half of this year and all schools in the latter half,” Yoon said during a government-public discussion on education issues in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province.
“Beginning in 2026, students in every grade will be able to benefit from the programs.”
Currently, only first graders are eligible for after-school programs. Under the expansion plan, the programs will continue to be offered to first graders by priority this year and expanded to second graders next year, and to all grades in 2026.
According to the education ministry, after-school programs have been provided to some 50.3 percent of all students.
It noted there are still many who have been unable to benefit from the programs although they needed, because they were pushed back on the priority list or lost in the lottery system.
Because of this, many working parents face difficulties in taking care of their children after school hours, and this has led to rising private education costs and women’s career breaks.
Against this backdrop, the ministry said anyone who wants and needs the programs will be able to benefit under the government’s expansion plan.
The government, however, faces a bevvy of tasks to smoothly implement the programs that will require a huge increase of human resources.
The government said it will recruit 2,250 irregular teachers who hold part-time or contract-based teaching positions for the programs in the first half of the year.
In the second half, an additional 6,000 personnel will be recruited from public servants and retired teachers to be in full charge of the programs.
The government said these measures are aimed at reducing the work burden of existing teachers, but concerns are rising over the possibility of the failure of some regions to recruit enough irregular teachers or other personnel, which would inevitably lead to increasing burden of the existing teachers.
Jeong Soo-kyung, who heads a union of elementary school teachers, also raised concerns over the issue of where the responsibility will lie in the event of accidents.
“Even if newly recruited persons, not existing teachers, operate the after-school programs, parents will call the teachers when school violence cases or accidents occur,” Jeong said. “The programs should be completely separated from existing teachers by, for example, transferring the jurisdiction of the programs to local governments.”
A union of public servants working at education offices across the country, for its part, slammed the government’s plan to recruit relevant personnel from public servants, claiming that the government is shifting the responsibility and work burden onto them.
“There will be high demand for the after-school programs, and workload will drastically increase,” said Jeon Tae-young, secretary general of the union. “The government should clarify details on how to increase the number of public servants.”
The union held a press conference in front of the education ministry later in the day, urging the government to withdraw its after-school program expansion plan and return to square one.