"No Need for Private Academies: Saving 800,000 Won a Month and Boosting Grades... Parents Flock After Hearing the News"

Ministry of Education, EBS, and Pocheon City Operate Soheul Dureundureun Center

"Greater Satisfaction Than Cram Schools or Private Study Rooms"

Self-Directed Learning Centers Emerge as an Alternative to Reducing Private Education Costs

"I've never attended a private academy, but my average score on this term's final exams went up by 15 points."

On July 13, at the Soheul Dureundureun Center in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, 15-year-old Seo-In Jeong shared, "After learning how to study on my own at the center, my average score, which used to be in the 60s, has risen to 75." She studies alone at the center for 2 to 3 hours, three times a week after school—this is actual study time, excluding breaks. Among the 60 students who use the center, the top 10 students recorded an average of 3 hours of net study time per day. Yong-Soo Jeon, head of the EBS Self-Directed Learning Center, said, "About 80% of students who use the center have improved their grades."

Opened in January this year, the Soheul Dureundureun Center is one of the self-directed learning centers being established across the country by the Ministry of Education since September last year. The center was created to bridge regional education gaps and to meet diverse learning needs by providing high-quality EBS educational content in connection with public education. In practice, it is becoming a space where the burden of private education is reduced and self-directed learning is established among students.

On the 13th, students are focusing on their studies at desks separated by partitions at the Soheul Dureundureun Center. The capacity here is 60 people in total, but recently, as word has spread, the number of people waiting has increased, and about 30 individuals are waiting to be admitted. Photo by Juyoun Oh

Exterior view of Sohul Dureundureun Self-Directed Learning Center in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jooyeon Oh

At the Soheul Dureundureun Center, located inside a newly built apartment complex, students were focused on their studies at desks divided by partitions, each wearing earphones. The center has a capacity of 60 students and is open to those from the fifth grade of elementary school and up. On this day, after finishing school, students began arriving at the center, and by around 6:30 p.m., all seats were filled with no vacancies.

The center is divided into a reading room, study space, counseling room, and lounge, similar to a regular private supervised study cafe. Upon arrival, students first hand in their mobile phones, then write out their study plans for the day in a planner. Every day, students solve 15 "EBS AI Problem Button" questions (recommended step-by-step by AI based on each student's level). Incorrect answers are automatically reissued with a different format by the AI (artificial intelligence), so by simply going through this process, students get repeated practice in their weak areas. Afterward, they can watch EBS lectures or do school homework, choosing studies as they wish. All EBS online lectures and materials are provided by the center at no cost to students.

The center has two coordinators (learning managers) who are always present and help students develop and maintain study habits. Each week, students attend a 20-30 minute counseling session, during which their study plans and learning methods are reviewed so that students are not left alone simply under the concept of "self-directed" learning.

The first thing students do as soon as they arrive at the center is to 'turn in their mobile phones.' Students voluntarily put their phones into a return box installed at the entrance of the study area and then self-studied. Photo by Juyun Oh

The most important focus at the Soheul Center is not grades, but the absolute amount of study time. Each month, the ten students who study the longest are selected and rewarded with gift certificates. Both attendance and net study time are managed as data. Students must study at least three times a week and at least two hours a day to continue using the center.

This system is naturally reducing students' dependence on private education.

Youngjo Lim, whose child is a first-year high school student, said, "We quit both Korean and math academies and only kept English tutoring. Our monthly academy fees have dropped by about 550,000 won." He added, "Considering we're getting the benefits of a private supervised study room at the center, we're saving at least 800,000 won a month on private education." Mr. Lim said, "Even after quitting the academies, my child's math scores are slowly but steadily rising, and they even reached the top grade in memorization-based subjects. In the past, just attending an academy felt like enough to finish the day's studying, but now, independently planning and studying is the biggest change."

Fifteen-year-old Sarang Yoo shared her daily study schedule, which she records in her planner every day. She said, "By studying alone at the center, rather than at an academy, I was able to fill in my weak spots. I feel like I don't need to go to academies anymore." Her mother, Eunjung Seok, commented, "She used to struggle with basic English, but after studying at the center, she got a perfect score on her performance assessment. She has discovered the joy of achieving through self-directed learning."

Student satisfaction can also be seen in the waiting list. Currently, about 30 students are waiting to be admitted to the Soheul Center, and the number of applicants has sometimes peaked at 40.

At the Pocheon Self-Directed Learning Center, students and parents unanimously agreed that "planner writing" had the greatest effect. They said their grades improved as they created and followed their own plans. The photo shows 15-year-old Sarang Yoo's daily study schedule, part of her study planner. Photo by Juyoun Oh

As demand for the center increases, Pocheon City is investing its own budget to actively promote the self-directed learning center. For students who live far away, the city has even introduced "Pouri," an on-demand minibus. Pocheon City plans to add two more centers within this year, increasing the total to nine.

Hoon Kang, head of the Pocheon City Education Cooperation Team, said, "Many families used to transfer their children to areas like Uijeongbu or Junggye-dong in Nowon-gu, Seoul, for better educational environments. But with such high parental satisfaction with the self-directed learning center, we expect out-migration to slow down."

The self-directed learning centers are overseen by the Ministry of Education, with city/provincial offices of education and local governments in charge of facility construction and management, while EBS operates learning coordinators and learning programs. During the school year, the centers are open on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on weekends and during school vacations, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Ministry of Education opened 48 centers last year and plans to add 52 more this year, bringing the nationwide total to 100.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.