Lee Hyuk-je, Jeonnam Provincial Council Member, Warns Jeonnam Student Population Nearing 200,000 Collapse... Calls for Active Response

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Lee Hyukje, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly, stated, “The number of students in Jeonnam is facing the crisis of falling below 200,000,” and urged the Jeonnam Office of Education and Jeonnam Province to actively address the issue of declining student numbers together.

Jeonnam is one of the regions considered at risk of population extinction, and with the number of students in local kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools approaching a collapse below 200,000, there is a call for more proactive measures to improve the educational environment.

According to the 2020 Basic Education Statistics announced by the Ministry of Education on the 28th, the number of students in Jeonnam’s kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools this year is 207,442, a decrease of 6,495 from last year’s 213,937.

The student decline rate in Jeonnam was 3.0%, higher than the national average decline rate of 2.1%, ranking fourth highest nationwide after Jeonbuk at 3.3%, Daejeon at 3.2%, and Daegu at 3.1%.

In particular, due to the continuous decrease in birth rates in Jeonnam, the decline rate of kindergarten students in the province reached 4.2%, and there are concerns that the decrease rate of elementary school students, which was 2.7% this year, will further increase in the future.

As the decline in the number of students in the province grows every year, there is an urgent need to prepare measures to improve the educational environment accordingly.

Assemblyman Lee Hyukje emphasized, “We must strive so that no parents leave Jeonnam for other cities or provinces because of their children’s education,” and added, “Everyone should have a sense of crisis and devote themselves to population and education policies.”

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