National Education Commission Considers 3 PM Dismissal for Lower Grades, Teacher Groups Push Back as "State-Level Child Abuse"

As the Presidential Commission on National Education is known to be reviewing plans to extend school hours for lower-grade elementary school students, teacher organizations have risen in opposition, claiming that care policies are being shifted onto schools.

The commission plans to gather opinions on expanding educational hours, which would extend the dismissal time for 1st and 2nd-grade elementary students from around 1 PM to 3 PM.

The expansion of school hours for early elementary students was previously pursued by the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy in 2018, but fell through after controversy.

The Elementary School Teachers Union pointed out regarding this movement, "Whether to expand educational hours should be reviewed cautiously based on classes and breaks suited to the developmental stages of lower-grade students, rather than on how long they should be kept at school."

The Elementary School Teachers Union also released survey results showing that a significant portion of early elementary students are negative about extending dismissal times.

When 1st and 2nd-grade elementary students nationwide were asked on August 26 and 27, "How would you feel if you had classes with your homeroom teacher until the 6th or 7th period and went home at 3 PM?", 65.5% of responding students answered, "I think it would be too exhausting and tiring because the classes would be too long."

Only 3.7% responded, "It seems like it would be fine to study more in the classroom."

The Elementary School Teachers Union stated that a total of 29,136 students, including 12,024 first-graders and 17,112 second-graders from 17 cities and provinces nationwide, participated in this survey.

The Busan Teachers Union also criticized in a statement on August 31, "Keeping lower-grade elementary students tied to schools under the pretext of 'curriculum' is tantamount to state-level child abuse."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.