No Address Change Needed, Attend Nearby School... Gyeongnam Office of Education Promotes 'Middle School Metropolitan District System'

by Lee Seryeong

Published 18 Apr.2022 17:50(KST)

Updated 10 Aug.2025 11:41(KST)

Resolving Bean Sprout Classroom Issues and Revitalizing Small Schools

Gyeongnam Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Se-ryeong] The Gyeongnam Office of Education is implementing a middle school wide-area school district system to alleviate overcrowded classes and support small schools with fewer than 60 students.

The middle school wide-area school district system allows students residing in a school district area to attend a nearby small school in an adjacent middle school district without changing their address.

A school district is a group of middle schools within a region with similar commuting conditions such as distance and transportation. To prevent concentrated support for a specific school, admission to schools is assigned by lottery.

A middle school district refers to a designated zone where students are assigned to a specific middle school without a lottery, considering commuting distance, transportation convenience, and regional conditions.

Since the 2017 academic year, the Gyeongnam Office of Education has operated a wide-area commuting zone for elementary schools to resolve oversized and overcrowded schools, and from this year, it has expanded the scope of operation in connection with the Gyeongsangnam-do Small School Support Ordinance.

The wide-area commuting zones for elementary schools are currently operated by all 18 education support offices. It was reported that the number of transfer students due to the wide-area commuting zones totals 1,431 from grades 1 through 6.

For middle schools, Jinju, Tongyeong, Gimhae, Miryang, Geoje, and Yangsan Education Support Offices allow admission from middle school districts to middle school zones considering regional characteristics; however, there are no separate guidelines for operating the wide-area school district system, so the expansion effect is minimal.

In February, the Office of Education held a working council to prepare guidelines for the middle school wide-area school district system and established a basic operation plan.

The plan includes directions such as allowing students from large schools in school district areas to transfer to small schools in nearby middle school zones without changing their address, criteria for designating transfer-in and transfer-out schools, and detailed operational promotion measures.

Existing schools in operation will be maintained, and when reviewing target schools, separate regulations allow implementation by setting criteria suitable to the circumstances of each education support office.

Each education support office will gather residents' opinions to decide on middle school districts and middle school zones, and after administrative notice and provincial council review, finalize and announce the decisions. The Gyeongnam Office of Education plans to revise commuting vehicle operation guidelines to expand support for commuting convenience for students traveling long distances.

Kang Man-jo, Director of School Support Division, said, “Expanding the middle school wide-area school district system will disperse students, resolving issues of oversized and overcrowded schools, and will also revitalize small schools.”