Will It Gather Public Opinion on "Opposition to 3 p.m. Dismissal for Elementary Students"?... National Education Commission Begins Deliberations

August petition meets 50,000-signature threshold... Formally placed on agenda Nov. 10 after expert panel review

Debate over the policy requiring all elementary school students to be dismissed at 3 p.m. has been placed on the National Education Commission’s official agenda and will go through deliberation.

On the way home from an elementary school in Seoul. Reporter Yoon Dongju

The National Education Commission, an administrative commission under the direct authority of the president, will hold its 12th meeting of 2026 at the Government Complex Seoul on the afternoon of November 10. It will deliberate and vote on whether to begin a process to gather and mediate public opinion on a petition opposing the “Policy for Dismissing Elementary School Students at 3 p.m.”

The petition was posted on the public opinion platform in late August and received the support of more than 50,000 people, meeting the statutory requirements under the Enforcement Decree of the National Education Commission Act. After a preliminary review by the expert committee on gathering and mediating public opinion, it was formally placed on the agenda for today’s plenary session.

If the motion passes at the meeting, the commission will draw up a detailed plan for gathering and mediating public opinion and begin follow-up procedures to build social consensus. If it fails, the process will end immediately.

The meeting will also hear a report on the results of an online public consultation on the direction of the university admissions system in preparation for the future, as well as the November activity plan of the second Public Participation Committee.

The commission will review public opinion on the future university admissions system gathered through its official website. This month, the Public Participation Committee plans to hold in-depth discussions on “An Education System for Lifelong Learning and Skills Development.”

Cha Jeong-in, chair of the National Education Commission, said, “Policies on education and care for lower-grade elementary school students are important matters that require comprehensive consideration of students’ developmental characteristics, the quality of education, teachers’ workloads, and school conditions. We will examine them carefully from multiple angles.” He added, “We will listen more closely and substantively to the public’s views so that we can respond to rapid changes in the environment, including advances in AI technology and declining birth rates and an aging population.”

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