SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The competition rate for admission to private elementary schools in Seoul has marked a sharp increase compared to a year ago.
The average competition rate for admission to private elementary schools in the capital city stood at 11.7:1 in the 2022 academic year, a sharp increase from 6.8:1 a year ago, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
The number of private elementary schools with a competition rate of higher than 20:1 was estimated at six.
Previously, private elementary schools drew lots publicly on the same day in the presence of students and parents.
However, they started drawing lots online due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which enabled multiple applications, resulting in a higher competition rate.
For this year, in particular, private elementary schools responded more actively to the COVID-19 crisis compared to public elementary schools, resulting in parents’ stronger preference towards them, and, eventually, an increase in the competition rate for admission.
When it comes to public elementary schools, most of them shifted to remote classes but the quality of their online classes was poor compared to that of private elementary schools.
There are many cases in which private elementary schools maintained offline-based classes rather than shifting to online ones by strengthening their own COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
