suicide, children's mental disorder and the lack of their leisure time. 78. The education programs still give an undue emphasis on the school subjects included in the college entrance tests. The education for creativity and character building through arts and physical education has been stressed but, in reality, the lessons on these subjects are simply a formality or given in a distorted manner. For instance, according to a survey of 585 elementary and middle schools throughout the nation which was conducted by the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations in February 2011, 28 elementary schools reduced physical education lessons by 5.9 hours on average for the third graders, and 8 middle schools reduced PE lessons by 31.9 hours on average for the students. Even after the Intensive Course Completion System (particular subjects are to be completed within one semester) was adopted under the revised school subject curricula of 2009, some schools didn't give a single PE lesson for a year. A lawmaker found, after a survey of 3,673 high schools throughout the nation, that one in every 10 high school students didn't have any PE lesson for two years (during their 3year high school attendance). This is closely related to the worsening basic physical strength among the children. 79. The Government should develop and implement an alternative model of learning that can improve the current system of high competition and undue emphasis on college entrance. It also should set up the policy orientation and draw up specific policy measures to drastically improve the present environment of education, and make consistent efforts to realize the measures. Low Spending on Public Education, and High Costs of Private Education (CRC/C/KOR/3-4, para. 379~382; CRC/C/KOR/Q/3-4, para. 37~39) 80. According to the 2010 OECD Educational Index released by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Korean Government covered 4.2% of the total public schooling expenses as compared to GDP (which is lower than the OECD average of 4.8%) while the individual persons paid 2.8% (which more than triples the OECD average of 0.9%). Meanwhile, public spending on education per student is very low, with 5,437 6 (6,741 on OECD average) in elementary education; 7,860 (8,267) in secondary education; and 8,920 (12,907) in tertiary education. 81. The Additional Report said that the private education spending fell in 2010 from a year earlier (para. 38), but the nation's total private education spending for elementary and secondary school students is still high at 20 trillion and 900 billion won, according to the 2010 Education Statistics. The data also shows that private education participation rate was 86.8% among elementary school students; 72.2% among middle school students; and 52.8% among high school students. Private education spending accounted for 3% of the monthly average household expenditure in the 1990s, but it sharply grew to 12% in 2008. It is also reported that the households with the monthly average income of 7 million won or more spent 880% more on private education than the households that earned less than 100 million won per month, indicating a wide gap in private education spending between the haves and the have-nots. Moreover, it is concerned that this gap in private education spending due to different income levels does not only result in a gap in access to educational opportunities, but also widen the 6 The figures are PPP (purchasing power parity) translations of the US dollars. In 2007, the PPP of one US dollar was translated in 755.28 Korean won. 22