Academic Term - South Korea

South Korea

In South Korea, the school year is divided into two terms. The first term usually runs from March 2, unless it is a Friday or the weekend, to mid July with the summer vacation from mid-July to late-August (elementary and secondary schools) and from mid-June to late August (higher education institutions). The second term usually resumes in late August and runs until mid February. The winter break is from late December to late January. There are two weeks of school (elementary and secondary schools) in February. Then there is a two-week-break before the new academic year starts in March.

The school hours are approximately from 8:00am to 4:00pm for high school, each class lasting 50 minutes. For middle school, it is about from 8:00am–3:30pm, each class lasting 45 minutes. In Primary School, the lower grades (Grades 1-3) have classes around 8:30 to 2:00 and the upper grades (Grades 4-6) have classes from about 9:00 to 3:00. Each class lasts about forty minutes.In high school, the older students are sometimes required to stay until 9:00pm or later studying on their own. For the most part, teachers rotate and the students stay in their classroom except for certain classes such as Physical Education, Music and Science labs.

School on Saturday ends at noon. They call Saturdays they do not attend school 놀토 (nol-to), short for 노는 토요일 (no-neun to-yo-il); it means resting Saturday. Until 2011, students went to school on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays of each month; but from 2012, students no longer go to school on Saturdays.