The government’s plan to adopt a Western-style school year would cost up to 10 trillion won ($9.2 billion) over 12 years, local researchers said Monday.

The Education Ministry recently said it was considering moving the beginning of the school year from March to September, a move intended to attract more students and faculty members from abroad while making it easier for Korean students to join foreign programs during the summer.

According to the Korea Educational Development Institute, one way to implement the measure would involve having children originally slated to enter elementary school in March 2018 start school in September 2017. Subsequently, a large number of additional faculty members and classrooms would be needed, the report claimed.

A similar problem would occur when the students entered middle school in 2023, and high school in 2026. Overall, 301,722 new faculty members, 40,940 new classes and a total of 10.4 trillion won would be needed to implement the policy.

The report said similar costs would be incurred if a batch of students had to wait six months before starting school.

But officials from the Education Ministry said the changes were likely to cost less than the KEDI had projected, since the adjustments would be made gradually.

The ministry will gather public feedback from 2016 to 2018 to decide whether and when to implement the new academic calendar.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)