Parents Angry At Kindergarten Owners

Kindergarten group sticks to plan to delay semester opening

By Kim Rahn

Parents are up in arms over a private kindergarten group's collective action to delay opening for new semester, a decision announced only four days before the scheduled opening.

Double-income parents are desperate to find someone to care for their children during the daytime, while some are planning to sue for compensation.

Last Thursday, the Korea Kindergarten Association (KKA) announced the suspension plan in protest against the government's push to introduce tougher rules on private preschools for more transparent management.

Since then the Ministry of Education and regional education offices have been trying to grasp the exact number of kindergartens that will not open for the new semester on Monday as scheduled, and to come up with emergency measures to care for children whose parents are unavailable.

According to the ministry's survey, 190, or 5 percent of 3,875 private kindergartens nationwide are expected to participate in the delay. But nearly 300 have not responded to the ministry's inquiry about their plans, so the actual number may be larger

A parent holds a picket that reads 'Moms are angry,' in front of Suji-gu Office in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday, during a protest against the Korea Kindergarten Association's decision to delay opening for new semester slated for Monday.

/ Yonhap

Online communities are flooded with comments from angry parents, who say the KKA is taking the parents and children hostage.

'The kindergarten just sent a text message that it would not be open on Monday, and they have been out of contact since,' a working mother wrote on an internet community of Gyeonggi Province mothers, Friday.

Another wrote, 'I managed to take leave for Monday and Tuesday (to take care of my child), but if the opening delay continues after that, I don't know what to do.'

Dozens of petitions have been posted on Cheong Wa Dae's website, calling for the punishment of KKA leaders and operators of kindergartens that are suspending the opening.

For Leaders Kindergarten in Gyeonggi Province operated by KKA head Lee Deok-sun, a mother is collecting the signatures of other parents to join a compensation suit.

On the Gyeonggi mothers' community site, she claimed the opening delay infringed on the children's right to learn and caused mental damage to parents who cannot find alternative means of childcare.

'I'll seek a damage suit if the kindergarten does not...