South Korea rights watchdog urges action on ‘7-year-old exams’ assessing pre-schoolers
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The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said such practices may violate children’s rights to health, development, rest and play.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
SEOUL - South Korea’s human rights watchdog has urged the Education Ministry to address extreme forms of early private education, including entrance exams administered by private academies to pre-school-age children.
In a statement released on Aug 25, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea said such practices may violate children’s rights to health, development, rest and play, as guaranteed by the Constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The move came in response to a petition submitted by 826 individuals who called on the government to take stronger action against “seven-year-old exams”. The term, widely used in South Korea, refers to tests administered by well-known private education institutes, or hagwons, to assess pre-schoolers’ proficiency in subjects such as English, maths or coding before enrolment.
Although the commission dismissed the petition on procedural grounds, citing that private academies fall outside its direct investigative authority, it acknowledged the broader human rights concerns and issued a policy opinion to the ministry.
The commission emphasised that these early education practices, driven by excessive competition, deprive young children of their right to age-appropriate experiences, such as play, self-expression and rest. It recommended a nationwide survey of early childhood private education, mandatory disclosure of the findings, and stricter regulation of testing-based programmes and intensive foreign language instruction targeting young children.
A 2024 report by Representative Kang Kyung-sook and the civic group World Without Worrying About Private Education found that over 74 per cent of kindergartens in Seoul’s Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa districts – areas known for fierce educational competition – operated English immersion programmes.
Among them, 10 kindergartens were confirmed to offer full elementary-level curricula to pre-schoolers, while only one institution actively rejected early academic learning in favour of play-based education.
“These practices clearly undermine children’s rights,” the commission said, calling for “systemic safeguards to ensure that all children can grow and learn in developmentally appropriate environments”. THE KOREA HERALD/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK
