Ordinance to extend hagwon hours in Seoul sparks debate over regulating cram schools
Published: 17 Dec. 2025, 18:08
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- CHO JUNG-WOO
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![A person walks past private cram schools in Dogok-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on July 23. [WOO SANG-JO]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/e5b821a4-03a3-4a3c-a2ad-0925b88d3b9a.jpg)
A person walks past private cram schools in Dogok-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on July 23. [WOO SANG-JO]
At 10 p.m., the lights go off at bustling private cram schools, also known as hagwon, in Seoul. At least that's supposed to be the case officially, as for years, the nightly cutoff has marked one of the capital’s few formal limits on an education system that often stretches late into the night.
However, an ordinance to extend those hours until midnight is renewing questions about how far the city of Seoul should go in regulating private education, an issue of contention among policymakers, parents, students and private education providers.
For many Korean students, dependence on private education has steadily grown, driven by hopes of admission to the country’s top universities, which many believe are closely tied to future employment prospects.
The government, in turn, has long sought to curb that reliance and strengthen public education, rolling out measures such as eliminating so-called killer questions from the College Scholastic Ability Test.
The latest amendment, proposed by Seoul Metropolitan Councilor Jung Ji-woong of the opposition People Power Party and initially backed by 19 other council members, a number that has since fallen to 12, has drawn nationwide attention from students, parents and civic groups alike, reopening a debate over whether longer hours would broaden learning opportunities or further entrench reliance on the private education market.
Why call for change now
![A person takes notes during a 2026 college admissions information session at Jongro Academy in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on July 27. [NEW1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/8a2e2b17-127f-481f-b6b9-7ffdd17958f6.jpg)
A person takes notes during a 2026 college admissions information session at Jongro Academy in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on July 27. [NEW1]
Seoul’s 10 p.m. curfew on private cram schools was formally introduced in 2008, after a revision to the law empowered city and provincial education offices to set their own limits on hagwon operating hours.
In the lead-up to the restriction, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the city council each proposed extending operating hours beyond 10 p.m. in 2007 and again in 2008, but those plans were ultimately withdrawn amid public opposition.
In the years since, critics say enforcement has struggled to keep pace with reality.
In areas such as Daechi-dong in Gangnam District, one of Seoul’s most competitive education hubs, some academies operate late-night self-study sessions that critics describe as loopholes.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the number of violations for late-night instruction rose from 49 cases in 2020 to 174 in 2023.
Supporters argue that Seoul’s 10 p.m. curfew is increasingly out of step with the rest of the country. While hagwon and private tutors in Seoul are restricted to operating between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m., high school students in cities such as Incheon and Busan are permitted to study until 11 p.m. In regions including South Chungcheong, South Gyeongsang, Daejeon and Ulsan, classes may run through midnight.
The pressure is particularly acute in Seoul, where both students and private education resources are heavily concentrated. According to the national statistics portal Kosis, Seoul accounted for 783,000 of the country’s 5.24 million school-age children in 2024, which is about 15 percent of the total.
Critics say the proposal fails to account for how those choices play out in practice.
“People say going to hagwon is optional, but that choice doesn’t really exist,” said Jang Yoo-ju, a middle school student, speaking at a press conference at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Nov. 4. “When everyone else goes, you feel forced to follow. If you don’t, a fear of falling behind sets in.”
She then asked, “Is it normal for a society to expect teenagers to be sitting in classrooms after 10 at night?”
![A passerby walks through Daechi-dong, a hub of private cram schools in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 7. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/e57d3ca9-4dc5-43ae-ba95-bcb6d656da58.jpg)
A passerby walks through Daechi-dong, a hub of private cram schools in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 7. [NEWS1]
Private academy operators reject that argument.
The Korea Association of Private Educational Institutions claims that singling out hagwon for regulation ignores how students actually spend their nights, noting that gaming and other late-night activities remain largely unregulated. Restricting academies alone, the group says, distorts fairness rather than promoting it.
A patchwork of rules
Operating-hour limits vary widely by region, since each provincial education office has the authority to set its own curfew. Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu and Gwangju are the only regions that impose a uniform 10 p.m. cutoff for hagwon serving students from elementary through high school.
Other regions apply age-based limits. In Incheon and North Jeolla, hagwon may operate until 9 p.m. for elementary school students, 10 p.m. for middle school students and 11 p.m. for high school students. Eight cities and provinces, including Ulsan and the Chungcheong region, allow hagwon for high school students to remain open through midnight.
![Hagwon operating hours by region [YUN YOUNG]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/8f93abe1-1a29-4e6b-a69a-77e690a314f2.jpg)
Hagwon operating hours by region [YUN YOUNG]
The proposal frames these discrepancies as an issue of educational equality, arguing that regional variation infringes on students’ right to study.
Similar claims were brought before the Constitutional Court by parents in 2008 and again in 2014. Each time, the court upheld the ordinances as constitutional.
In its rulings, the court said that restricting hagwon hours served legitimate legislative goals: securing students’ sleep and rest, normalizing public school education and easing the financial burden on families. It added that differences across regions were an inevitable consequence of local autonomy, which allows ordinances to reflect regional conditions and environments.
Those conditions vary widely. According to Statistics Korea, average monthly private education spending per student in 2024 exceeded the national average of 592,000 won ($400) in Seoul, at 782,000 won, as well as in Gyeonggi, at 620,000 won, and Busan, at 594,000 won. In Seoul, the figure was especially pronounced among high school students, whose average monthly spending surpassed one million won, reaching 1.029 million won.
Making the rules match reality
![A passerby walks through Daechi-dong, a hub of private cram schools in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/0ae3e7e9-2d06-433a-b315-ecb25bc26900.jpg)
A passerby walks through Daechi-dong, a hub of private cram schools in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]
Some educators argue that extending hours would not increase pressure but formalize what is already happening.
“If students come home from school around 5 p.m. and start studying only after dinner, there often isn’t enough time left,” said a part-time hagwon instructor in Seoul who has taught since 2017.
“Limiting hours feels meaningless, because students keep studying after 10 p.m. anyway, either at 24-hour cafes or study rooms.”
“It may be more efficient for them to stay at the academy and continue until midnight,” he added.
The Korea Association of Private Educational Institutions warned that a rigid 10 p.m. limit could backfire. In a statement, the group said that the restriction fuels a “balloon effect,” driving illegal private tutoring underground and pushing fees higher. “We hope for an environment where teaching does not become a crime,” the group added.
At a public debate hosted on Nov. 11 by councilor Jung, an academy instructor from Seongbuk District in central Seoul described watching the clock during evening classes.
“At 9:50 p.m., I start checking the time. If it goes past 10, inspectors could show up, so we rush students out,” the instructor said.
“There are many students who are struggling,” she said. “As an instructor, I just want to teach them properly. When an exam is the next day, and they’re completely unprepared, it’s painful to send them home.”
Student opposition grows
Civic groups and labor unions staged protests on Tuesday, calling for the proposal’s withdrawal ahead of a committee review scheduled for Thursday.
Opponents cite not only academic pressure but labor concerns.
Referring to a survey of 2,655 middle and high school students conducted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 13, one civic coalition said that 95 percent of respondents opposed extending hagwon hours, citing violations of students’ right to rest, intensifying credentialism, excessive competition and the erosion of public education. The group warned that longer hours could also lead to labor exploitation among hagwon instructors.
![Parents gather for a 2026 college admissions information session at Sungkyunkwan University in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Dec. 7. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/e6effa51-6e66-428a-8dfa-c7db37b691e0.jpg)
Parents gather for a 2026 college admissions information session at Sungkyunkwan University in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Dec. 7. [NEWS1]
Sixteen-year-old Lee Ye-ji, a student in Songdo, Incheon, said extended hours could further concentrate students in Seoul, particularly in districts like Daechi-dong.
She currently attends hagwon in Seoul only on weekends. “My schedule is more flexible then,” she said. “But if there are more weekday options, I might feel pressure to travel to Seoul during the week, too.”
The debate also comes as the private education market continues to expand despite a shrinking student population. Last year, the sector reached 29.2 trillion won, an all-time high. Students spent an average of 474,000 won per month, with high school students spending the most, at 520,000 won.
A 2024 study by Professor Lee Kwang-hyun of Busan National University of Education estimated that enforcing a 10 p.m. cutoff for high school hagwon in 11 of the country’s 17 regions that allowed later hours in 2023 could reduce private education spending by about 162.6 billion won annually, or 2.2 percent of the total in 2023.
A public petition filed last month, titled “I don’t want to be stuck at hagwon until midnight,” echoed those concerns. The petition, which cited students’ right to rest and mounting pressure from private education, gathered more than 220 signatures between Nov. 12 and Dec. 11.
Addressing the proposal’s appeal to regional “equality,” the petition argued that alignment alone was not justification.
“Even if other regions allow students to stay at academies until midnight, that does not mean Seoul should follow a flawed standard,” it read.
“Education should not become a contest over who studies the latest. Seoul’s responsibility is not to chase bad precedents, but to create a healthier and more humane standard.”
The ordinance is scheduled for review on Thursday afternoon by the council’s education committee, which will decide whether to forward it to a plenary vote. Seoul’s education superintendent, Jung Geun-sik, has publicly opposed the proposal and retains veto power should it pass.
For many students and parents, however, fierce academic competition will continue to fuel late-night study sessions and over-reliance on private education, regardless of the outcome.
BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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