Hagwon Tuition Regulators Step In

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Hagwon Tuition Regulators Step In

29 October 2008 845 views 2 Comments

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It looks like the government is serious about what is being termed by the media as a “crackdown” against overcharging hagwons. Is this a month of crackdowns?

Below is an excerpt from the Korea Times:

“The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Thursday its plan to revise ‘hagwon law’ in order to obligate the cram schools to make public their tuition charges on the Internet as a measure to cut down private education costs.

‘We will visit some 500 hagwon across the country and check tuitions as well collect opinions from parents. Based on the data, we will conduct special supervisions on illegal hagwon that impose high tuition fees until next February,’ Seo Myung-bum, a general director of the ministry told reporters during a press meeting.”

What effect this may have on teacher’s salaries is up to debate. Another writer, Sarah Lim, wrote on this site the possible result being a price war between schools. That it, in turn, may cut into hagwons’ operating revenues and then force many smaller schools to cut teacher pay. After all, hagwon operating budgets are mostly housing and pay.

What do you think? Is the regulation of hagwon tuition going to help or hurt teachers’ pay?

–Editor