S.Korea minister quits after school-age plan prompts backlash

South Korea’s education minister on Monday said she would step down amid a backlash over her proposal to lower the school entry age, presenting President Yoon Suk-yeol with another in a series of personnel setbacks that have ruined his approval rating.
Minister Park Soon-ae’s resignation comes two weeks after the ministry said it would bring forward school enrolment by one year to age five, beginning as early as 2025, if it gained consensus public support. The plan was aimed at expanding the labour force by completing people’s education earlier.
Calling for the plan to be dropped, South Korean parents and teachers groups staged a rally in front of the presidential office last week, saying such young kids were intellectually unprepared and the change would increase difficulty in finding childcare.