All South Korean high schools will offer free education by 2017, the government said Tuesday, in line with President Park Geun-hye's pledge to tackle education issues ahead of her inauguration.

Under the plan, the government will gradually increase the number of local high schools providing free education starting next year, making all schools offer expense-free education by 2017, according to the presidential office and the ruling Saenuri Party.

The move came as Park said her government will increase the number of high schools offering free education by 25 percentage points starting 2014. The subsidy will cover admission fees, tuition and text book purchases.

The presidential office and Saenuri Party also agreed to provide contract workers at schools the chance to become regular workers if they have been employed for more than a year, shortening the two year requirement stipulated in the current law.

They also plan to continue discussions until the end of August on ways to integrate history topics into college tests, which would include adopting a history-certificate test in the admission procedures. (Yonhap)