By Kim Se-jeong



The Ministry of Education said Tuesday it will suspend its earlier plan to ban English classes for preschoolers, set to begin in March, after mounting protests from angry parents.



However, the ministry said the decision would not be permanent and pledged to come up with policy guidelines early next year.



"December's decision was premature. We've learned there was no general consensus about English education policy in Korea," the ministry said in a statement. "We will hear from as many people as possible this year and come up with guidelines by early next year."



On Dec. 27, the ministry announced it would ban teaching English to children at kindergartens and daycare centers. The government explained this was consistent with a new law banning English education for first and second graders, scheduled for implementation, also, in March.

Yet, few parents took it as being consistent.



Many parents viewed the government's recent move as lacking consistency and expressed their disappointment at the policy approach.

"Public education is failing our children so badly," Park Mi-young, a mother, said during a discussion held at the National Assembly after the announcement Tuesday. "Is it too much to ask for good English education at school for my child which is better than that offered by private institutes?"



A majority of parents are opposed to the ban on English education at schools as they believe it only pushes parents to send their children into the hands of private institutes.



The problem with this is private English education is getting more expensive and harming classes taught at public schools.



To combat this, many parents strongly feel that English education should be given a high priority in the public school curriculum.



When the ministry announced the ban for preschoolers last month, this led parents to file a petition against it on the Cheong Wa Dae website.



Education Minister Kim Sang-kon acknowledged excessive private English education was a problem.



"We also heard citizens say that what should happen first is to get rid of excessive private English education," the minister said, adding that the ministry will look into ways to put a rein on the private market, but failing to elaborate further.



Experts argued that public education policy can only succeed when it is consistent with efforts to curb excessive private English education.



"As long as the government fails to regulate private education, no public policy will succeed," Lee Heon-ku from the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations said.

