April 30, 2026
SEOUL – A pledge to introduce English classes from first grade has revived a decades-old debate in South Korea over whether earlier public instruction can ease private tutoring costs or fuel even more competition among young children.
Yoon Ho-sang, the conservative candidate in the 2026 Seoul education superintendent race, told Newsis on Monday that public elementary schools should begin English education earlier to meet demand now being absorbed by private academies.
“Many families spend heavily on private education from as early as kindergarten, especially for English,” Yoon told the news agency.
“South Korea currently begins English classes in the third grade, but we should lower that to the first grade so students can learn the language earlier through public education,” he said.
The proposal comes as the Education Ministry works to rein in private English education for preschool children, including so-called English kindergartens. In early April, the ministry announced plans to curb cognitive learning for children under the age of three, ban level testing and crack down on private academies that advertise themselves as English kindergartens.
The debate over when children should begin learning English has long been a sensitive issue in South Korean education, reflecting broader anxieties over private tutoring, academic competition and inequality.
Before English was added to the elementary school curriculum, South Korea taught the subject from middle school, with classes largely focused on grammar and reading comprehension.
In 1995, the Education Ministry began pushing to introduce English into elementary schools, arguing that students needed stronger communication skills in an era of globalization. The move faced resistance from some parents, lawmakers, teachers and civic groups, but English classes were ultimately introduced in elementary schools in 1997.
“I thought introducing English education in elementary schools was a defining task of that time that could not be avoided in light of globalization,” then-Education Minister Ahn Byung-young later wrote in a memoir.
The ministry chose third grade as the starting point, partly based on arguments from education experts that teaching a foreign language too early could be inefficient before children had sufficiently developed language skills in their mother tongue.
That concern has continued to shape opposition to earlier English education.
As early as 2006, the Education Ministry faced backlash after it revealed plans to pilot English classes for first graders at 50 elementary schools nationwide.
Park Geo-young, then a professor of English education at Sangmyung University, warned that starting English earlier could deepen socioeconomic divides by pushing parents to pay for additional private lessons.
He also argued that early English education could weaken Korean identity, strengthen “linguistic imperialism” and negatively affect children’s development.
Similar concerns have surfaced in later disputes.
In 2016, parents at Young Hoon International Elementary School filed a constitutional petition, arguing that the government’s ban on teaching English to first and second graders was unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court unanimously ruled against the parents, citing expert views that early English education could have adverse developmental effects.
“The court has taken into account expert opinions that teaching English in the first and second grades has the potential to cause developmental problems in children,” the court said in its ruling.
In 2024, the civic group World Without Worries About Private Education warned that proposals to introduce English earlier could create the perception that the absence of English in the first- and second-grade curriculum represents a serious educational gap.
The group said such claims could leave parents who have followed the public curriculum feeling confused or disappointed, while pushing more families toward early private English education.
Supporters of an earlier start argue the opposite: that the lack of regular English classes in the first two years of elementary school has created a vacuum filled by private academies.
Although liberal lawmakers strongly opposed the introduction of elementary school English in the 1990s, more recent calls to move the starting age forward have come from both sides of the political spectrum.
Before Yoon, former Seoul education superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, a liberal, also called for public English education to begin earlier.
“English education already takes place in day care centers and kindergartens, but the absence of English education in public schools immediately after children enter elementary school creates the irony of encouraging private education,” Cho said at the time.
“The need for public English education is even greater for students from low-income families and farming, fishing and rural communities. We can discuss moving the start of public English education forward from the third grade to the first or second grade,” he said.
Cho pushed back against concerns that earlier English classes would hurt Korean literacy.
“As far as I know, there is no research showing that learning English in the first and second grades of elementary school interferes with Korean-language education,” Cho said. “If full English education is difficult, one option would be to begin with spoken English, rather than written English, in the first and second grades.”
A professor of English education, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said earlier public instruction could reduce reliance on private academies while better reflecting demand from students and parents.
“Students are already taking after-school English classes at schools and learning English through public after-school care programs,” the professor said. “Demand is already high, and the lack of regular public classes is pushing parents toward private academies.”
“The question is how English should be taught so that it does not place too much burden on students,” the professor added.