Gwangju Office of Education Announces 2025 Standardized General High School Freshmen

Slight Easing of Student Reassignment Across Districts

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 23rd the assigned high schools for 11,060 successful applicants to this year's standardized general high school admissions.

According to the Office of Education, this allocation was conducted fairly in accordance with the allocation principles specified in the 2025 high school admissions basic plan and the admissions guidelines.

Autonomous public high schools and science-focused schools were assigned through computerized lottery according to the order of application. Standardized general high schools were assigned randomly by computerized lottery regardless of application order, minimizing differences in academic performance between schools. This year's allocation for standardized general high schools was made among the schools desired by students and parents, without any arbitrary (forced) assignments.

The allocation of standardized general high schools in the Gwangju area faces challenges due to geographical imbalances in the distribution of middle and high schools, population overcrowding in certain districts, and concentration by school type. In particular, in Gwangsan-gu, there are only 11 high schools compared to 26 middle schools, resulting in students being reassigned from Gwangsan-gu to Buk-gu, Seo-gu, and further to Dong-gu and Nam-gu.

Allocation Status by Autonomous District. Provided by Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education

This year, changes in school types and explanatory sessions to alleviate overcrowded classes have led to changes in the situation of new student applications to standardized general high schools, somewhat easing the phenomenon of students being reassigned across districts.

Additionally, as part of efforts to resolve the imbalance in the distribution of high schools by district, the establishment of Gwangsan High School (tentative name), scheduled to open in 2027, is being pursued, and this phenomenon is expected to be alleviated.

However, as the number of students decreases, the number of students in Dong-gu and Nam-gu is rapidly declining, requiring close discussions between the Office of Education and schools to prepare for this.

Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education building.

Superintendent Lee Jeongseon stated, "Despite difficult circumstances, the allocation of standardized general high schools is conducted fairly and transparently through random computerized lottery," and added, "We will continue to work harder to enhance the allocation process to meet the wishes of students and parents and to improve the quality of school education."

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