Elementary Student Numbers Plummet... Ministry of Education Partially Reduces New Teacher Hiring Scale

Agenda for the 10th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting Raised
Number of Elementary Students Expected to Decrease by Over 20%
Legislation on Teacher Supply and Demand Every 5 Years, Legalization Every 2 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Ministry of Education plans to partially reduce the scale of new teacher recruitment due to the sharp decline in the number of elementary school students.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Education announced that it will hold the 10th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting and the 4th Human Resources Investment and Talent Development Council at the Government Sejong Complex to discuss the "Teacher Supply and Demand Policy Promotion Plan in Response to Changes in the Future Education Environment."

As the number of elementary school students is expected to decrease significantly more than anticipated, the scale of new recruitment for public elementary schools will be reduced. The estimated number of elementary school students in 2030, projected in April 2018, was 2.26 million, but the estimate in March last year dropped to 1.72 million. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education will reduce the number of newly recruited teachers for public elementary schools next year to 3,780?3,880, which is 100 fewer than the 2018 plan (3,880?3,980). From next year, the student-to-teacher ratio is expected to enter the 15 students per teacher range. In the case of secondary education, since there is not much change in the school-age population during the supply and demand planning period, the April 2018 plan will be maintained.

The detailed teacher supply and demand plan will be more specifically determined based on the population projections by Statistics Korea to be announced in 2021 and a new teacher supply and demand forecasting model. The government will prepare a teacher supply and demand plan reflecting new educational demands such as digital transformation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the safe grade system in elementary schools, the high school credit system, and basic academic achievement guarantees. The plan will be completed by next year and applied from the 2022 teacher supply and demand plan. Going forward, the government will also promote legislation to link with Statistics Korea’s future population projections and establish a teacher supply and demand plan every five years, updated every two years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.