A prestigious language academy in Seoul’s affluent Gangnam District recently asked presented an essay question to five-year-old applicants: “What will happen if Earth has no water?”
This was part of an entrance exam that included vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and a one-on-one English interview. Only 30 to 40 students secure admission each year, while hundreds compete for a spot. Those who fail must wait months before retaking the test.
Widely known as the “5-year-old exam,” the test has a reputation for being notoriously difficult. Some children start attending cram schools or receiving private tutoring as early as age four to prepare for the test. There are even online courses for parents that offer tips on helping their children pass the test.
The latest government data shows that around 80% of five-year-olds are enrolled in some form of private education, marking the first official tracking of such expenses for infants and toddlers. The growing prevalence of early private education is raising concerns.
The Ministry of Education gathered responses from 13,241 parents of children under six from July to September last year. The survey is a precursor to a national full-scale study next year. According to the survey released on March 13, total spending on private after-school classes for infants and toddlers reached 815.4 billion won ($560 billion) in the three months from July to September. Nearly half (47.6%) of all children under six received private education, with an average monthly spending of 332,000 won per child.
For toddlers under the age of two, only 24.6% took part in private education, with average expenses amounting to 145,000 won per month. The figure rose with age, and by age five, 81.2% participated in private education, and average monthly expenditures rose to 435,000 won.
Spending on English education was the highest, at an average of 414,000 won per child each month, followed by hobbies and liberal arts (127,000 won), sports (127,000 won), and music (122,000 won). For families opting for an English kindergarten, a private alternative to traditional daycare or preschool, the monthly average spending was 1.545 million won, or 18.54 million won annually—nearly three times the average annual university tuition fee (6.83 million won) in South Korea.
On the same day, the government also released annual private education spending data for elementary, middle, and high school students. The figure reached a record 29.2 trillion won ($20.07 billion) last year, up 7.7% from the previous year. By grade level, costs reached 13.2 trillion won for elementary schools, 7.8 trillion won for middle schools, and 8.1 trillion won for high schools.
Even as the number of grade school students has decreased over the years due to a declining birthrate—dropping from 5.32 million in 2021 to 5.28 million in 2022, 5.21 million in 2023, and 5.13 million last year—private education spending has continued to rise.
Families spent the most on English after-classes, around an average of 264,000 won per month per student, followed by mathematics (249,000 won), Korean (164,000 won), and social studies and science (146,000 won).
Households with higher incomes spent significantly more on private education. Families with a monthly income of over 8 million won spent an average of 676,000 won per child, while those earning less than 3 million won spent only 205,000 won.
