Korean parents are spending up to 200,000 won ($178) per child on private English education each month, a survey showed on Tuesday.

But most are willing to pay this or more for their children’s sakes, indicating that families prioritize English education in their budgets, according to Yoon’s English School, one of the nation’s largest English education franchises.

The private English educator surveyed 627 parents of its elementary, middle and high school students and found an average spend of 195,000 won per child each month. About 42.9 percent of parents said the fees exceeded what they could afford on their monthly income while 56.4 percent said the amount was manageable.

However, 54.4 percent said they were willing to continue paying such fees and 37.6 percent even said they were willing to spend more ― up to about 243,000 won. Only 8 percent said they might have to cut back their spending on English education for their kids.

When asked why they doled out such large sums on their children’s English studies, 50.2 percent said they thought it was a good investment. They found that students’ language abilities improved according to the amount of money spent on them. About 25.1 percent of parents said they were not capable of teaching their children English and 16.9 percent said they were anxious that the children may fall behind others if they didn’t.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)