A portion of the budget earmarked for elementary to high school education will be used to support universities and colleges as well as to foster provincial institutions.

The ministries of education and finance jointly announced on Tuesday that special accounts worth eleven-point-two trillion won will be established within next year's budget plan to support higher and continuing education.

Around eight trillion won will come from the education ministry's university and college support funds and the labor ministry's funding for polytechnics.

Another three trillion won will derive from national taxes on education that had been allocated to regional education offices for elementary to high school education.

In an apparent bid to appease the lower-level schools, the ministry plans to set aside 300 billion won for teacher training, including in artificial intelligence(AI) and the digital sector.

The enforcement of such plans, however, is likely to be delayed as there currently are three relevant bills pending at the National Assembly.