Teachers, principals and hagwon operators push back against plan to keep elementary students in school until 3 p.m.

A proposal to delay dismissal time for lower-grade elementary school students to 3 p.m. is heading to a public forum hosted by the National Education Commission. But the plan has drawn fierce opposition from teachers' unions, elementary school principals and hagwon operators alike, fueling a growing debate over whether to extend instructional hours for younger students.

The National Education Commission is holding a policy forum Thursday morning at the National Assembly Library's small auditorium, jointly organized with the National Assembly Future Research Institute and the Korean Educational Development Institute. The forum is titled "Expanding Education Hours for Lower-Grade Elementary Students and Strengthening Educational Quality."

The commission said the forum is part of its work to establish a mid- to long-term national education development plan, and will examine the social and educational background behind the push to extend school hours, the key issues involved, and conditions on the ground at schools.

At the forum, Hwang In-hyeok and Seong Mun-ju, associate research fellows at the National Assembly Future Research Institute, will review the policy case for expanding instructional hours at elementary schools. Lee Hee-hyeon, head of the student and parent research division at the Korean Educational Development Institute, will present on the key issues and challenges surrounding the expansion. Teachers affiliated with the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union and the Korean Teachers Union, along with parents, will also take part in the discussion.

Opposition from educators has been overwhelming. According to a survey the Korean Teachers Union released Wednesday, 99.1 percent of the 22,768 elementary school teachers nationwide who participated — polled from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 — opposed the 3 p.m. dismissal plan, which would extend regular class hours for lower-grade students. Of those, 97.5 percent were strongly opposed and 1.6 percent were generally opposed. Among respondents currently serving as homeroom teachers for first- and second-graders, the opposition rate reached 99.5 percent.

Concerns about the impact on students were also widespread. Some 94.9 percent of respondents said student fatigue and stress would worsen, while 91.6 percent predicted that time for play and rest would be reduced. Another 96.4 percent said the plan would increase teachers' workload.

The union called on authorities to halt the uniform push for a 3 p.m. dismissal, saying it ignores both the developmental characteristics of young elementary students and the overwhelming views of teachers in the field. Rather than extending regular class hours to address gaps in childcare, the union said the government should expand a publicly funded after-school and childcare system that students can use reliably when needed.

The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations also issued a statement criticizing the proposal as "desk-bound administration trying to patch over childcare and child-rearing problems by tacking on more class time." The federation said the debate over extending school hours was being driven not by concerns about student growth and development, but by a desire to solve problems outside the school — such as childcare gaps, the limits of parental leave and reducing private education costs.

School principals raised concerns about potential conflicts with existing policies. The Korean Elementary School Principals Association, which represents the heads of more than 6,100 public and private elementary schools nationwide, said "staying longer at school does not mean better education" and called on authorities to reconsider the blanket introduction of the policy.

The association warned that uniformly pushing back dismissal times could create overlaps in time, space, staffing and function with existing after-school care and extracurricular programs. It said the feasibility of the plan — including its implications for the curriculum, teacher supply, school meals, student safety and dismissal supervision — must be examined first, given that conditions vary from school to school in terms of classroom availability and staffing.

Hagwon operators also joined the opposition. The Korea Association of Private Education Institutions, in a statement released ahead of the forum, said it sympathized with the childcare gaps faced by dual-income households but opposed any uniform extension of regular class hours. It particularly challenged claims that keeping students at school longer would reduce private education spending, demanding that objective empirical data be presented first. As alternatives, the association proposed expanding parental leave and flexible work arrangements, and building a childcare network centered on local governments.

This is not the first time a proposal to extend dismissal hours for lower-grade elementary students has surfaced. A similar plan was pursued in 2018 by the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, but it failed to become policy amid criticism that it did not adequately account for students' developmental stages.

The National Education Commission said it intends to hear a wide range of perspectives and on-the-ground views at the forum. Commission Chair Cha Jeong-in said the question of instructional time for lower-grade elementary students "is not simply a matter of adding more hours, but requires comprehensive consideration of students' developmental stages, the quality of education, and conditions at schools." He added that he hoped the forum would serve as "an opportunity to jointly explore the right direction and policy tasks for strengthening the quality of education for lower-grade elementary students."