Arya News - A funding of 128.9 billion won ($92.6 million) for the second half of the year is part of a broader push to gradually expand free education and care to children aged between 4 and 5 next year, and to all kids aged between 3 and 5 by 2027.
SEOUL – South Korea will begin offering free education and child care to all 5-year-olds by subsidizing preschool institutions from July, as a step toward the government’s plan to make preschool education universally accessible by 2027.
The Ministry of Education announced Tuesday that the Cabinet had approved a 128.9 billion won ($92.6 million) allocation for the second half of the year. It aims to support approximately 278,000 children aged 5 who are enrolled in either kindergartens or day care centers nationwide.
This funding is part of a broader push to gradually expand free education and care to children aged between 4 and 5 next year, and to all kids aged between 3 and 5 by 2027, in line with President Lee Jae Myung’s campaign pledge to increase state responsibility for early childhood education.
Since 2013, Korea has pursued a unified early childhood curriculum for children aged 3 to 5 and began a policy of free access to kindergartens and day care. However, the program quickly derailed as education offices refused to pay for day care centers, saying they were the responsibility of the Health and Welfare Ministry and the budget was insufficient.
As a result, parents have continued to shoulder out-of-pocket costs due to institutional disparities, particularly between public and private facilities.
The new plan aims to eliminate these gaps and significantly reduce the financial burden on families, the ministry explained.
Under the revised policy, public kindergartens will see their monthly government subsidy for after-school programs raised from 50,000 won to 70,000 won per child.
For day care centers, which were brought under the Education Ministry last year, the government will provide an additional 70,000 won. This is intended to cover the cost of supplementary expenses such as enrollment preparation, uniforms, extracurricular programs, transportation, field trips and meals, which have until now been paid by parents.
These bring the extracurricular subsidies for public kindergartens and day care in line with those for private kindergartens. These public providers typically charge no tuition fees.
To cover tuition fees at private kindergartens, providers will receive an additional 110,000 won in subsidies per child to cover the gap between the standard early education fees set by the government, which are 557,000 won a month, and the average government and provincial education office subsidies of 448,000 won.
One complication is that the standard fees are not mandatory, and can be higher, as can the cost of extracurricular activities.
Seoul said that payments will be made directly to the institutions from July, with the aim of eliminating parents’ preschool education costs entirely.
For parents who have already paid July fees, each institution is instructed to consult with parent councils to arrange refunds or carry the surplus forward.
“This policy represents a crucial step toward equal opportunity at the starting line of life,” said Kang Min-kyu, director of the early childhood policy department at the Education Ministry. “We will continue to expand government support so that every child, regardless of background or region, receives quality education and care.”
South Korea’s commitment to free education dates back to 1959, when tuition-free and compulsory elementary education was first introduced. Over the decades, the scope of free education has expanded.
In 1985, free middle school education was launched in remote areas and later nationwide by 2005. The government began phasing in free high school education in 2019, which was completed in 2021.
But early childhood education, particularly for ages 3 to 5, remained partially subsidized until now. Infants aged 0 to 2 are already eligible for full child care subsidies, though this is categorized under welfare rather than education.
In a separate but complementary move, the government also announced increased financial support for infants aged 0 to 2 and children with disabilities, starting this month.
Also beginning in July, monthly child care subsidies for children enrolled in day care centers were raised by approximately 5 percent, following the National Assembly’s approval of a supplementary budget aimed at boosting domestic consumption and easing economic burdens on households.