As Korea cracks down on English kindergartens, Seoul districts open their own for free

“Last week, Byun Jae-i, a 5-year-old at Donghwa Kindergarten in southern Seoul's Seocho District, learned that kangaroos come from Australia and pandas from China. The twist is she learned it all in English, a language she is still picking up. “I had learned English at a private institute before, so learning it here became easier,” she told The Korea Times. “Last time at kindergarten, I did an art activity where I made a tiny palm-sized bed and that was the most fun.” The weekly classes, funded by Seocho District, are part of a broader push by some Seoul districts to give young children a friendlier first brush with English, amid a government crackdown on so-called "English kindergartens." In Korea, English kindergartens refer to private academies that teach children mostly in English from around age 3 until they begin elementary school. Monthly tuition at English kindergartens averaged 1.54 million won ($1,042) in 2024 — roughly 3.5 times the average monthly private education spending of 435,000 won per 5-year-old — according to the Ministry of Education. Criticized for fueli

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