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The Ministry of Education hinted at the possibility of withdrawing the plan to lower the elementary school entrance age to five.

Education Minister Park Soon-ae said at a meeting with representatives of parent groups yesterday (2nd) that it could be scrapped if there is no national consensus.



By Kim Kyung-hee, staff reporter. 



<Reporter> Park Soon-



ae, Deputy Prime Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Education, met with representatives of parents' organizations at an unscheduled meeting.



She was low-key from the start.



[Park Soon-ae / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education: It was also a goal to promote the safe growth of children and reduce the burden on our parents in a way that integrates education and care.]



Promoting admission to elementary school for children aged 5 years is not a goal. .



[Park Soon-ae / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education: However, this (reform of the school system) is only a means to achieve this goal and is the beginning of a social discussion.]



However, the parents' representatives were strong.



[Jung Ji-hyun / Co-CEO of the World Without Worrying about Private Education: If there are 100 people, then why do we have to make another public discussion about this issue that everyone is absurd and everyone says they don't understand and that everyone is opposed to it? ]



[Min-Jung Hong: I can’t even explain to parents what the merits of this 5-year-old going to school are.]



Minister Park asked for cooperation, saying that it was a policy that came out of a good will that the country should embrace even children in blind spots, but as the criticism continued, he said:



[Park Soon-ae / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education: I also think that the policy can be discarded if the people really say that it is not this policy.

So, how can the people push for a policy that all the people do not want?]



After the President's business report, the backlash that spreads day by day has left us open to withdrawing the plan to lower the schooling age.



Minister Park also said that he would discuss this policy in consultation with not only parents, but also experts and superintendents of provincial and provincial superintendents.