Kim Moonsoo: "Preventing 'Educational Collapse' in Rural, Fishing, and Small Cities"

Representative Proposal for the Amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
"Changing the Criteria for Teaching Staff Allocation to 'Number of Classes'"

Moonsoo Kim, Member of the National Assembly.

A legislative amendment is being pursued to prevent the reduction of teaching staff due to the decline in the school-age population and to protect education in agricultural, fishing, and rural areas as well as small and medium-sized cities.

Kim Moonsu, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, and Gurye-gap in South Jeolla Province), announced on the 21st that he has proposed a revision to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which centers on changing the basis for calculating the number of teachers and staff from the current “number of students” to the “number of classes.”

Currently, the number of teaching staff is calculated based on the number of students, so as the school-age population decreases, the number of staff is automatically reduced. However, school operations and curriculum organization are based on the “number of classes,” not the number of students. As a result, the reduction in staff is causing increasing operational difficulties in the field of education.

In particular, agricultural, fishing, and rural areas have few students but many classes, so applying the current standard results in a shortage of teachers compared to metropolitan and large cities, significantly worsening educational conditions. In addition, small schools in rural and small to medium-sized cities are facing a heavier workload per teacher, as a small number of teachers must handle various school tasks beyond regular classes, even with few students. In middle and high schools, if the number of teachers is reduced based on student numbers, it becomes difficult to assign even the minimum number of teachers required.

The proposed amendment stipulates that the number of teaching staff assigned to schools should be determined based on the “number of classes,” taking into account educational demand and conditions. It also introduces a provision requiring the Minister of Education to establish and implement measures to secure an adequate number of staff, and to report the plans and results to the National Assembly every year.

Kim emphasized, “Reducing staff based on the number of students is fatal to local and small schools,” and added, “We need to change the standard to the number of classes to reflect the educational reality.”

Kim also stated, “Rather than reducing the number of schools, policies should be changed to improve the educational environment of small schools,” and added, “I will push for definite institutional improvements so that schools in rural and small to medium-sized cities can continue to operate.”

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