Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in pledged Monday to introduce a package of reforms to curb soaring private education costs and competition.

“In recent years, the competition for private education has expanded from middle and elementary schools to kindergartens,” Moon told reporters.

The presidential candidate said that so-called prestigious high schools in the nation have “significantly” contributed to the rising cost of private education.

He suggested Monday a ban on universities ranking one high school above another for the national college-entrance exam.

“The number of foreign language high schools should be reduced as they have lost their initial purpose and have acted to nurture students to go universities,” Moon said during a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Yeongdeungpo in Seoul.

In addition, Moon plans to provide free education to children aged between 1-5 years, including reducing the current six-year elementary school period to five years including one year of kindergarten.

He said he will establish a special national committee to introduce the new education reforms.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)