Koreans have traditionally placed great importance on education as a means for self-fulfillment as well as for social advancement. Modern schools were introduced in the 1880s. With the founding of the Republic of Korea in 1948, the government began to establish a modern educational system, making the six years of elementary school attendance mandatory in 1953. Today, Korea boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the world, and it is a well recognized fact that Korea's well-educated people have been the primary source of the rapid economic growth that the nation has achieved during the past three decades.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development is the government body responsible for the formulation and implementation of educational policies. The government provides guidance on basic policy matters as well as financial assistance. The financing of education is centralized, and government funding constitutes the largest component of school budgets.


"Don't even step on the shadow of your teacher," an old saying goes, reflecting the degree of respect for teachers in the traditional Korean society. While many changes have taken place in the education system, teaching remains a sacred job. Koreans share strong enthusiasm for education and this national trait has served as the main factor contributing to economic development and political progress in recent decades.



Pre-Modern Education (4th-19th Century)

Since the Three Kingdoms period, monarchical governments set up their respective state-run central educational institutions devoted to teaching the Confucian classics to aristocratic youth. The main purpose of the institutions was to prepare the young elite for government posts. Among these institutions were "Daehak" (National Confucian Academy) of Goguryeo Kingdom (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), "Gukhak" (National Confucian College) of the Unified Silla Kingdom, "Gukjagam" (National University) of Goryeo Dynasty, and "Seonggyun-gwan" (National Confucian Academy) of the Joseon Dynasty. Regional schools, such as the "Five Course Academy" and the "Sahak," which were located in the capital, as well as the "Hyanggyo" (County Schools) in provincial areas, served as local educational institutions in the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties.

Private schools were also active in ancient times. The Twelve Assemblies and the Seowon came along during the Goryeo and Joseon periods and their level of education was recognized as equal to that of the state institutes mentioned. Other educational mechanisms, such as Yanghyeon-go, a Goryeo era scholarship fund, and the Joseon era academic institutions and libraries, such as Jiphyeonjeon and Gyujanggak, made significant contributions toward academic pursuits and achievements in their periods.

For commoners, schools such as the Gyeongdang of the Goguryeo Kingdom, taught martial arts and Chinese classics. Gyeongdang schools, in particular, evolved later into more popular academies nationwide, known as Seodang (village study halls), which continued to proliferate and spread until the late Joseon Dynasty period. Their primary service was to provide elementary-level education to villagers and their children. Even after Korea adopted a more modern national education system in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Seodang continued to serve as important regional education facilities for the nation.



Advent of Modern Education (1880-1945)

By the late 19th century, the Joseon Dynasty shifted its policy from isolation to an open door to learn from the modern Western educational systems and provide the new elite with knowledge needed to achieve national development.

It was in this period that Korea saw its first modern schools established. The English School (1883) and the Yugyeong Gongwon (1886-94) were among the first such institutions, founded by the government. Along with them came the private schools, including the Wonsan Academy (1883) and the Christian missionary institutions, like Baejae School (1885) and Ewha Women's School (1886). The foundation of the Wonsan Academy was particularly noteworthy because it was set up at the initiative of local residents of a newly opened port city out of their patriotic fervor.

The edict issued by King Gojong in 1895, dubbed Gyoyuk ipguk joseo, further set the momentum for national consciousness for modern education. In the edict, the king stressed the need for new national educational programs centering on the values of wisdom, virtue and health. He took the occasion to emphasize education as an indispensable instrument for fostering national leaders and achieving national prosperity.

It was in this spirit of the edict that modern-era private schools, including elementary, teachers, and vocational schools, began to be built and multiply across the capital and the nation. Patriotic leaders, in particular, made great endeavors in building new schools across the nation, as part of their patriotic movement to fight off the onslaught of Japanese imperialism at the turn of the last century. In short, the nation's modern education began in the period when the nation strove to overcome a national crisis on the strength of education.

The development of modern education in Korea, however, was disrupted by the Japanese invasion and annexation of Korea in 1910. A national Korean education system was unable to flourish for the next 35 years, as Japan adopted harsh colonial educational laws, like the Joseon Education and Private School Guidelines, with the aim of enforcing its compulsory indoctrination policies in Korea. In the 1930s and 40s, when Japan fiercely pursued aggressive policies toward the Asian Continent, Japan took on a much tighter and more stringent policy of "assimilation," seeking to turn Koreans into subjects of the Japanese emperor and as part of its scheme to exterminate the national identity of the Korean people and their culture. Under the policy, Korean students had to repeat every morning the pledge of allegiance as "subjects of the Japanese emperor," study Japanese history and speak only in Japanese. They were further forced to abandon their Korean names and assume Japanese style ones. In short, education during this period was nothing but a tool for Japanese colonial policies, hence qualitatively inferior.

The Korean fervor for education, however, kept growing among Korean families that moved to China, Manchuria, the United States and Russia seeking freedom. Ethnic Koreans in these countries focused on training a new generation of national leaders and raising Koreans' awareness of the importance of national independence. Meanwhile, students and intellectuals inside Korea fought hard to promote enlightenment through education in the face of Japanese oppression. In protest of Japanese colonial education, they organized secret meetings and launched student movements, while opening night schools for workers and farmers.



Post-Liberation Period (1945~)

Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945 marked a turning point in the history of education. As the country underwent a transition from totalitarianism to democracy, the primary concern was to provide equal educational opportunities for all. The period from 1945 to 1970 witnessed a dramatic expansion of educational opportunity. In spite of the widespread destruction and economic hardship brought on by the Korean War, the nation succeeded in virtually eliminating illiteracy.

Such a rapid expansion of educational opportunities was naturally accompanied by problems, the most serious being the deterioration in the quality of education. As the 1960s drew to a close, however, Korea's educators turned their attention to these problems and several projects were launched to improve curriculums and methods of instruction. Most notable was the abolition of the middle school entrance examination in 1968. Until that time, little children were forced to study subjects tested in the entrance exams. The severe competition to enter some reputed middle schools in the early stage of life disrupted balanced personality education. The Charter of National Education was promulgated in 1968. It sought to establish a balance between tradition and development as well as between individual needs and the needs of the nation.

The 1970s marked a period of rapid modernization. Education played a vital role in the process of national economic development by providing high quality human resources. Technical education in particular was increasingly stressed. Of all the innovative efforts made in the field of education in the early 1970s, the Elementary and Middle School Development Project undertaken by the government was of particular importance. The project's goal was to improve the quality of elementary and middle school programs through the revision of educational objectives, curriculum and teaching methods. Under this project, competition for entering high school classes was abolished by stages in order to normalize middle school education, which had largely been focused on preparations for high school entrance examinations.

At the same time, efforts to improve higher education were also made with long-term goals in mind. The Higher Education Study Committee was formed in 1972 to analyze the problems and needs of university education and to formulate a development plan. This led to the introduction of pilot programs aimed at strengthening professional training in select institutions. The aim was to better prepare college students for a fast-changing industrial and technologically oriented society.

Another important change during this period was the emergence of new forms of education, such as "correspondence schools." Such institutions were primarily aimed at providing young workers and adults of all ages with the opportunity to receive high school or college education without actually having to attend regular classes.

The year 1980 saw the successful implementation of a bold educational reform policy: the abolition of the then widespread private tutoring, which had been one of the most controversial issues in education because of the high cost involved. In accordance with this policy, the government began from 1981 to offer a nationwide examination for all high school graduates wishing to attend college or university. The scores from this written test, combined with students' high school records would determine the admission of qualified students to colleges or universities of their choice. The system also prohibited individual colleges and universities from conducting their own entrance examinations.

To better prepare young people for the challenges of the future, Korean education in the 1990s began to place emphasis on "human education" based on the quality education of the 1980s. New laws for the promotion of local autonomy were legislated in March 1991, and educational district offices were set up at the provincial level. In order to offer a more liberal high school education and extend more autonomy to universities, a new system for the college admissions test, or College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), was announced in April 1991, and it was implemented in 1994.

The government set up and ran the "Commission on Educational Reform for New Korea." The Commission, on September 5, 1994, reported to the President 11 educational reform measures, including increasing the education budget, strengthening the international competitiveness of university education, and promoting the autonomy and accountability of private schools. In an attempt to form the base for the "New Korea and New Education" system, the commission announced on March 31, 1995 reform measures to establish the New Education System in preparation for the age of information and globalization.

The Kim Dae-jung government inaugurated in 1998 continued the educational policies initiated by its predecessors. The government tried to maintain consistency in educational policies, and establish and implement new educational measures to cope with the new challenges and social change. As part of the effort to continue educational reform, the government on July 24, 1998 established the Presidential Commission for the New Educational Community, an advisory organ to the President. The commission reviewed and assessed the progress of educational reform, offered additional training and retooling under the program, and encouraged civic movements to support reform efforts. The commission carried out changes in schools and local communities by forming educational communities led by teachers, parents and citizens' associations and by promoting bottom-up educational reform that was grounded in the realities of student needs and available resources.