A 34-year-old teacher surnamed Park at a private elementary school in central Seoul witnesses young students struggling with piles of homework every day, not just for their regular classes but also after-school courses run by the school -- especially focused on English.

“I often see my students under immense pressure from school, after-school programs and private academies. They have told me that they are fed up with the homework, but it seems there is no way to escape,” Park told The Korea Herald.

Many after-school programs at private elementary schools are different from those at public schools. While public school students usually do various activities in the after-class programs, private school students often have extra English classes on top of them.
 

Such intensive English classes, often conducted in the form of immersion, remain prevalent at private elementary schools, despite it being illegal for first- and second-graders.

In February this year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Education Ministry’s ban on English immersion programs was constitutional.

The complaint against the ban was filed in December 2013 by parents of students attending Young Hoon Elementary School in Seoul, which introduced its English immersion program in the late 1990s.

The English immersion program, designed to let lower-grade students improve their English proficiency, consisted of mandatory English-only classes with foreign textbooks under foreign faculties. The subjects ranged from English language to math and science. The school claimed that the program, which soon spread to other private schools, was in accordance with the law that allows private schools to draw up their own curriculums.

The Education Ministry prohibited the immersion program in 2012 for the first two grades, raising concerns about the Korean language ability of young students and excessive private education fever. Later grades also received a time limit on their immersion classes.

Objecting to the ministry’s decision, some 1,000 parent of Young Hoon students filed the constitutional appeal, claiming that there is no scientific proof that the intensive English classes for low-grade students affect the learning of their mother tongue.

The parents also filed an administrative lawsuit against the ministry but the court dismissed the case in 2014.

Despite the two courts’ decisions, many private schools have resorted to an anomaly operation, by running the “optional” English immersion program after school.

While the ministry has also banned advanced learning at schools since last year, there is no specific restraint on how after school classes are conducted.

Private elementary schools have abused this loophole by branding their English immersion curriculums as after school program. Some schools even hold regular midterms and finals in their after school schedules, just like a regular curriculum.

“Although the extra after-school classes are optional, it’s practically mandatory because students cannot follow the regular curriculum without them,” said an anonymous mother of a student who goes to a private elementary school in Seoul.

According to the civic group World Without Worry About Shadow Education, 52 out of 76 private elementary schools in the country violate English class-related rules. Of the total 39 schools in the capital, the majority of the schools run the English immersion program for first and second graders in the after-school schedule.

The civic group pointed out that the programs are being run as compulsory courses under their regular curriculum.

“Although the regular English classes are allowed from the third grade, the actual difficulty level is designed for those who have studied English in the two previous years. Students cannot help but attend the immersion program,” said Choi Hyun-joo, researcher at the WWSE.

The civic organization has urged the education authorities to conduct stern monitoring on the schools, arguing that the English immersion program triggers excessive private education costs.

According to Rep. Park Hong-keun of The Minjoo Party of Korea, some private elementary schools were found to have charged students about 10 million won ($8,500) a year solely for the English immersion program, with some exceeding 11 million won. The after-school programs of public schools cost around 50,000 won per month on average.

“This English immersion program not only abuses the education rules but also affects the equal opportunity of education. Although private schools may have discretion to design their own curriculum, there are still some curriculum rules that they have to follow,” said English language education professor Lee Byung-min at Seoul National University.

“Elementary education is mandatory for all nationals, which means that it is the basic education for Korean citizens. That is why all the hours of curriculum such as Korean history are fixed by the ministry. Studying with foreign textbooks and learning in a foreign language also raises a question as to which country the students are being educated in.”

The efficacy of the immersion program has also been questioned.

“It is important to assess if the immersion program practically involves immersion into English. The real immersion is only possible when students, who use English in daily life, learn new concepts in English. At private schools, they just review the concepts in English that they previously learned in Korean. It’s just a modified version of immersion,” said English education expert Lee Wan-ki at Seoul National University of Education.

“The ideal immersion is realistically impossible in the Korean system.”

The more concerning aspect of the intensive English program is the impact on the linguistic ability development of the low graders, some experts pointed out.

“I see many low graders showing slower understanding in other courses, not because of their intellectual level but because of their poor Korean ability. Excessive exposure to a foreign languages before they fully learn their mother tongues seems to have affected both their linguistic ability and understanding level,” said private elementary school teacher Park.

“I think it is right to teach foreign languages at least after the third grade.”

The WWSE said it has urged the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to conduct a curriculum inspection of the private elementary schools since late last year, the office has remained lukewarm.

Once illegalities in school operation are confirmed, the concerned school can be punished with measures such as limiting the admission quota. However, none of the schools have faced such penalties.

“(The office) has conducted special monitoring in January and February. It’s considering undertaking a third monitoring based on the earlier reports,” said an official from the SMOE.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)