College hopefuls struggle to focus amid admission uncertainty from COVID-19 resurgence

High school education will be free for all students in South Korea starting next year with expanded budget support. This would make education free for all primary, middle and high school students. The Ministry of Education said Tuesday that it was seeking a budget of 76.3 trillion won ($64.48 billion) for 2021, up 0.8 percent, or 601.5 billion won, from the 75.7 trillion won allotted this year. The proposed budget, set for a parliamentary review later this week, would increase spending on hig

Seoul Foreign School has been recognized for its architectural design that promotes unique learning experiences. The Seoul-based independet international school announced Tuesday that its high school building, designed by New York-based Ennead Architects, was awarded an International Distinguished Building, Landscape Architecture, and Urbanism Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The SFS building will be featured in “Global Design + Urbanism XX: New Interna

Virus forces schools to backpedal on in-person class plans in new semester

With schools expected to continue mostly online in the fall, worries grow over a widening achievement gap

South Korea saw five new special schools open in the year ending March 31, the largest yearly increase in seven years, with new additions in Seoul, Incheon, Gangwon Province and South Chungcheong Province. Special schools are tailored to the needs of students with physical, intellectual and emotional disabilities.  According to the Ministry of Education on Sunday, the number of special schools in Korea marked 182 as of April 1. The increase is the largest since 2013, when seven new special

South Korea will increase the admission quotas at medical schools and establish a new public medical school in a bid to broaden the reach of health care services, lawmakers and government officials said Thursday. The decision was confirmed earlier in the day during a policy coordination meeting between the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government. Under the decision aimed at ramping up medical services, the government plans to expand the admission quotas at medical schools by 4,000 o

More South Korean universities are positively responding to the demand for partial tuition refunds to compensate students for disrupted learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. The National Korea Maritime & Ocean University recently became the first school in the southern port city of Busan to decide to offer refunds. The school said it will pay back 10 percent of the tuition for the spring semester to each student, which amounts to approximately 209,000 won ($175). "The school's in

The Education Ministry plans to ask all of nearly 60,000 student athletes in the country about their experiences with physical and verbal abuse, after the suicide of a triathlete last month brought the issue of violence in elite sports into the spotlight. Through 17 regional educational offices, the ministry will interview all 59,252 student athletes enrolled at elementary, middle and high schools across the country to investigate all instances of abuse until Aug. 14. The survey will be condu

The Ministry of Education on Monday backed the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s decision to revoke special status to two autonomous middle schools. The ministry announced it has decided to uphold the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s proposal to revoke the licenses of Daewon International Middle School and Younghoon International Middle School for stratifying schools, for deepening inequality and promoting private education. The education office’s evaluation was fair a

High school seniors fear becoming casualty of coronavirus in college admissions; repeaters argue everybody’s suffering

Another elite high school in Seoul is likely to lose its autonomous status next year amid the liberal administration’s highly-controversial push to do away with elite schools. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced Thursday that it has started the process of officially revoking the designation of Whimoon High School in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, as an independent private school. The office citied a local regulation that authorizes it to cancel the special status of

COVID-19 is having an adverse effect on Korean society as a whole, especially among high school students. While facing the challenge of preparing to go to college, students find it hard to participate in their academic and other activities properly. There are very few things that they can do on their own, with many activities restricted due to the coronavirus outbreak. Notably, a youth club continues to hold its social events without going against the social atmosphere. Eight teenagers from

South Korean university students have joined together to file a class action lawsuit against the Ministry of Education and schools, seeking partial tuition refunds for disruptions to learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Movement for Tuition Refunds, a student group formed by the National University Student Council, held a press briefing on Wednesday in front of the Seoul Central District Court to call on universities to refund part of their spring tuition. Some 3,500 students from 42 un