16 Interesting South Korean Education System Facts

The Best Facts About School in South Korea

South Korea is the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It is located in East Asia, and it shares its border with North Korea. Its capital city is Seoul, which has a bit more than 9,733,000 inhabitants.

An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its education. In light of that, I have listed my 16 best facts about school in South Korea, and I hope you will love them:

1. South Koreans are very picky about shoe etiquette

South Korea, just like many other Asian countries, is very picky when it comes to… feet. In fact, they consider feet to be dirty and wear slippers at home.

And in schools? Students and school staff must remove their shoes and put on school slippers whenever they enter the building.

2. South Korean students need to clean their own classroom

Again, this is common in other Asian countries like Japan: janitors only do the major chores in South Korean schools.

Students need to take care of their classroom, starting at a young age. They also remove the trash on the school grounds every morning before class.

3. Some South Korean students have English names

You might have already heard of this: some South Korean students have English names, like Ashley, when it’s not their actual birth name.

Most of the time, it is due to the foreign English teacher who gave it to them. Sometimes students can choose, some others it is like role-play names.

4. South Korean students still have to face corporal punishment

Even though it remains lowkey, corporal punishment is still a thing in South Korean schools.

While it used to be allowed, it is now starting to disappear, but it can still happen in some schools. Most of the time, teachers have a disciplinary stick in school.

5. Corporal punishment used to be way worse in the past

Even though corporal punishment is now very limited in South Korea, it used to be a serious threat to all students.

The goal was to make the students think about their wrong behavior… by challenging their mental endurance.

6. Role-playing lessons are of very high quality in South Korean schools

One of the things that South Korea excels at is technology, and schools do not hesitate to use it.

In some of them, blue-screen technology is used for lesson purposes. Students, when they are role-playing a scene, are truly immersed in it and the lesson as a whole looks like a movie set!

7. South Korean students keep the same teacher and principal for 5 years

South Korean school staff have to be ready to move schools. Every five years, everyone from teachers to principals has to go through a lottery system… and change schools.

Because of this, the school staff in South Korean schools changes a lot!

8. The lottery system in South Korea is actually not a random thought

Despite lottery systems being random, South Koreans have thought about this a lot: creating this system allows teachers to have equal opportunities at work by working in good and bad schools.

Also, teachers are evaluated on how well their school ranks in the district.

9. Some South Korean schools are better than others

There are specific schools in South Korea called “model schools”.

And these are actually models, because of how performing their students and teaching staff are. If foreign teachers want to see how South Korean pupils study, they will probably head to a model school.

Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, South Korea

10. Teachers must look good in South Korea

Believe it or not, South Korea is a very fashionable and stylish country, even in schools.

This is why teachers have to look good: they need to look respectable while teaching. As early as elementary education, teachers will wear nice suits.

And that’s it for the 10 best interesting facts about the education system in South Korea…. Wait, did I say 10? Oh yes, because there are 6 more of them, coming right up:

More Facts About South Korea Education

There are so many things to say about the education system of South Korea that I just could not stop after only 10 facts.

Here, have 6 more South Korea education facts:

11. South Korean students often learn with games

The reputation of South Korea in competitive video gaming is not to be made.

However, you might not expect this, but schools also use games as a way to teach their students. In fact, it is said that pupils learn better with games, so teachers try to incorporate them as much as possible in their lessons.

12. Teachers are very respected in South Korea

One of the best things about Asian schools, in general, is that teachers are usually very respected, contrary to what you might see in western countries like the United States for instance.

There is in fact a saying in the country: “teachers are as high as God”.

13. Teachers’ pensions are incredible in South Korea

While South Korean teachers do not retire before they are at least 65 years old, their pension is worth it, as they have a salary increase.

Also, during their career, work hours, holidays and vacation benefits are said to be even better than other jobs.

14. South Korean students used to have school on Saturdays

Until only a few years ago, South Korean students had to go to school even on Saturdays.

But because this did not make the students nor the teachers happy, the Korean public school system decided to have every Saturday off in 2012.

15. High school is extremely intense in South Korea

Studying in South Korea can be very intense, especially in high school: there, students can have 16-hour long school days!

This is because the competition for good colleges is very high, and it is part of the South Korean culture to study as much as possible to enroll in the best possible university.

16. Many South Korean students attend private extra lessons

Because South Korean high school students are scared of failing their examinations, they will often attend extra lessons in the evening.

These lessons are very demanded and are run privately, like a business. It can also be a way for students to meet others.

So there you have them, these were all my 16 interesting facts about education in South Korea. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.

In case you want to learn more about the rest of the country, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:

South Korean School Hours

Let’s keep going with our next part, dedicated to South Korean school hours. The typical school schedule in one country can often be very different from your own, and it’s always interesting to have more details on how students go on about their day.

South Korea Primary School Schedule

The typical South Korean school year runs from March to the middle of July, before starting again in August, until mid-February of the following year.

School holidays are basically either religious or cultural, and schools are closed on these days. There are two holiday periods: winter break from mid-December to the end of January, and spring break in late February.

As for the school day, it is usually from 8 AM to 4 PM, even though many students stay in the evening, and help clean up the classroom.

South Korean High School Schedule

When it comes to secondary education, students enroll for 3 years of high school. They have to study more and more after each year, so even though they could go back home relatively early, they often choose to stay at school, eat there, and go home later.

High school is extremely intense in South Korea and students often have no choice but to study hard if they want to get into one of the best universities in the country.

General Facts About Schooling in South Korea

This last part is dedicated to general facts about schooling in South Korea. More specifically, we’ll check 2 key figures that will give you a better understanding of the education level in South Korea.

Enrollment in tertiary education for South Korea: 94.21%

(Average for regions: Sub-Saharan Africa: 8.6% | South Asia: 20.8% | Arab States: 36.4% | East Asia: 36.5% | Latin America: 43.3% | Europe and Central Asia: 62% | North America: 84%)

Data from World Bank EdStats/UNESCO

South Korea literacy rate: 98%

(Average for regions: Sub-Saharan Africa: 65.3% | South Asia: 72.9% | Arab States: 79.4% | Latin America: 93.7% | East Asia: 95.8% | Europe and Central Asia: 98.5%)

Data from World Bank EdStats/UNESCO

More Education Facts!

Do you want even more education facts about other countries?

Check out these facts:

• Education in North Korea
• Education in Japan
• Education in China

Or click here to see ALL the education facts up on the blog!

The Full List of 16 South Korean School Facts

1. South Koreans are very picky about shoe etiquette
2. South Korean students need to clean their own classroom
3. Some South Korean students have English names
4. South Korean students still have to face corporal punishment
5. Corporal punishment used to be way worse in the past
6. Role-playing lessons are of very high quality in South Korean schools
7. South Korean students keep the same teacher and principal for 5 years
8. The lottery system in South Korea is actually not a random thought
9. Some South Korean schools are better than others
10. Teachers must look good in South Korea
11. South Korean students often learn with games
12. Teachers are very respected in South Korea
13. Teachers’ pensions are incredible in South Korea
14. South Korean students used to have school on Saturdays
15. High school is extremely intense in South Korea
16. Many South Korean students attend private extra lessons

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