22% of Elementary Schools Nationwide Have 60 or Fewer Students... Jeonbuk, Gyeongbuk, and Jeonnam Lead

Schools with Fewer Than 30 Students Also Number 512

It has been identified that one out of every five elementary schools nationwide is a small-scale school with fewer than 60 students. Additionally, there are more than 500 small-scale schools with fewer than 30 students across the country.

According to the 7th annual education statistics report from the Korea Educational Development Institute, last year there were 1,362 schools with fewer than 60 students (excluding branch schools).

This accounts for 22.1% of the total 6,163 elementary schools, representing a 2.5-fold increase over 20 years from 548 schools in 2002. The proportion of elementary schools with fewer than 60 students also more than doubled from 10.2% in 2002.

There were regional differences. Jeonbuk had the highest number of elementary schools with fewer than 60 students at 203 schools, followed by Gyeongbuk (201 schools) and Jeonnam (199 schools). In contrast, most metropolitan cities had single-digit numbers of small-scale schools, such as Daegu and Sejong (2 schools each), Seoul (4 schools), Daejeon and Ulsan (7 schools), and Gwangju (9 schools).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The number of ultra-small elementary schools with fewer than 30 students is also on the rise. Last year, there were 512 such schools, accounting for 8.3% of all elementary schools. In 2002, there were 118 schools, meaning the number has increased 4.3 times over 20 years.

The increase in small-scale schools appears to be largely due to the decline in the school-age population caused by low birth rates. According to Statistics Korea, the school-age population of children aged 6 to 11 decreased sharply by 35.6%, from 4.192 million in 2002 to 2.701 million last year.

As the decline in the school-age population continues and concentration in the metropolitan area intensifies, the number of small-scale schools is likely to keep increasing.

Small-scale schools have fewer staff members, so each teacher handles more tasks. This can affect the operation of school curricula, classroom instruction, and student counseling and guidance. There are calls for separate support measures to protect the learning rights of students attending small-scale schools.

An official from the Ministry of Education explained, “To sustain small-scale schools, when distributing local education finance grants, factors such as unfavorable commuting conditions or whether a school is located in island or remote areas are reflected in financial needs. We also support each education office in promoting support projects for small-scale schools.”

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