A bill to amend the Private Education Act that bans entrance exams for preschoolers at English academies, commonly called the "4- and 7-year-old exams," was approved by bipartisan agreement at the National Assembly's Education Committee on the 9th.
The amendment adds a provision that, when recruiting preschoolers (children ages 3 to those not yet enrolled in elementary school), the founders and operators of academies, tutoring centers, and private tutoring may not administer selection tests that determine pass or fail.
However, while the original amendment also banned "tests for placement by level after admission," the revised bill passed that day allows "diagnostic evaluations in the form of observational interviews for the purpose of supporting educational activities, with the prior consent of the guardian."
Minister Choi Kyo-jin of the Education Ministry said immediately after the bill's passage that it "will ease excessive early entrance competition in infancy and early childhood and allow for more robust support for children's healthy growth and development."