State of Education

The Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea) continues to make gigantic strides to

improve their quality of education as per the GEFI guidelines.

Priority 1: Put every child in school

Since 1980, South Korea has maintained a 97% enrollment rate by providing free and

compulsory primary and middle school education. The percentage of students who continue on

to secondary schooling has been 99% since 1990. The percentage of students who move on to

higher education is about 71%. South Korea is ensuring that they are doing whatever they can to

make school ready and available to every child in the country (Republic of Korea, 2017). The

chart below demonstrates South Koreas gross enrollment ratio, which is the highest of any

country in the world (Education in South Korea, 2013).

Priority 2: Improve quality of learning

The percentage of GDP allocated for education has steadily been rising over the years,

providing more money for schools. Even though the students are being given high quality

education, the emphasis placed on it is so high that suicide rates are high because students find

themselves too stressed and overwhelmed by the pressure to perform well and get into a high-

ranking university. In recent years, the South Korean government has introduced reforms focused

on reducing the emphasis on test taking and lessening the importance of exam results in the

university admissions process, but there is still a long way to go when students are in school 220

days of the year for 13-14 hours each day (Education in South Korea, 2013). The graph below

demonstrates the suicide rates (orange) of certain age groups (, 2016).

Priority 3: Foster global citizenship

This has been South Koreas main focus of the GEFI guidelines. As a result of their aim

to provide every teacher with a PC by the year 2000, South Korea now has one of the best ICT

education infrastructures among OECD countries. Not only have they provided their own

teachers with classroom technology, but they have built ICT-based teaching facilities in thirty-

four countries. South Korea is providing many opportunities for their students by offering

exchange programs, increased resources for research, partnerships between schools and

industries, as well as research and internship programs. In addition to exchange students, South

Korea also actively hires native English-speaking teachers to come and teach the required

English courses. (Republic of Korea, 2013).

 To summarize, South Korea is excelling with Priorities 1 and 3, while their efforts with

Priority 2 are an ongoing struggle with overwhelming pressure to perform on exams and with

student suicides because of the fact.

 References

Education in South Korea. (2013). WENR. Retrieved 8 November 2017, from

https://wenr.wes.org/2013/06/wenr-june-2013-an-overview-of-education-in-south-korea

Priorities | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

(2017). Unesco.org. Retrieved 8 November 2017, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/gefi/p

Republic of Korea | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

(2017). Unesco.org. Retrieved 8 November 2017, from

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/gefi/partnerships/champion-countries/republic-of-korea

1 ''1030 . (2016). . Retrieved 8

November 2017, from http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/201