South Korea’s market for online or electronic-learning (e-learning) systems rose sharply last year with more than half of the population aged over three saying they have used such educational aids, the government said Tuesday.

Combined sales by the country’s service operators rose 9.2 percent from a year earlier to about 2.45 trillion won ($2.19 billion) in 2011, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The number of service providers also increased 6.9 percent on-year to 1,656 with the number of people hired by these companies rising 7.3 percent to 25,182.

The ministry attributed the growth partly to the increased use of e-learning systems by formal education institutes, including schools.

The ratio of schools using e-learning systems in their official curricula rose 0.9 percentage points from 2010 to 82.3 percent last year, according to the ministry.

The ratio of people using electronic learning systems also rose from 49 percent to 52.8 percent of all people aged over three years.

“To help further foster a niche for the e-learning industry, the government will establish a support center that will support the development of new smart learning systems,” the ministry said. 

(Yonhap News)