SEJONG, Spending on private education for South Korean students shot up 10.8 percent on-year in 2022, data showed Tuesday, reflecting the country's unwavering enthusiasm for education.
Total expenditures on private education for primary, middle, and high school students amounted to 26 trillion won (US$20 billion) in 2022, soaring from 23.4 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The average monthly spending on private education per student reached 410,000 won last year, also up 11.8 percent from a year earlier.
When considering just students actually enrolling in private education programs, the amount came to 524,000 won, advancing 7.9 percent over the period.
The increase came despite a 0.9 percent on-year fall in the total number of students to 5.28 million in 2022.
Some 78.3 percent of students received private education last year, up 2.8 percentage points from a year earlier. The figure reached 85.2 percent for elementary school students, up 3.2 percent over the period.
Around 19.1 percent of South Korean students spent at least 700,000 won on private education monthly in 2022, increasing 3.3 percentage points on-year.
By subject, students spent the highest amount of 123,000 won on English, followed by math and Korean with 116,000 won and 34,000 won, respectively.
The data also showed South Korean students spent 7.2 hours on private education programs weekly in 2022, up 0.5 hour from the previous year. Elementary school students spent 7.4 hours, while high school counterparts spent 6.6 hours.
Asia's No. 4 economy is widely known for parents' high enthusiasm about education for their children, with many considering entering prestigious universities the key to success in the competitive South Korean society.
Source: Yonhap News Agency