“Kangnam’s School Group Beats All”

As more and more parents try to transfer their children to high schools in the Seoul area, most of the applicants are known to have applied to schools in the Kangnam area.

Even on the 3rd, about 100 parents were waiting for the supplementary applications that will open on the 4th at the transfer waiting room located on the 2nd floor of the school health preservation building, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE). Such sight is due to the fact that the registration vacancy of urban schools is reported daily, and schools are allotted in the order of applications on daily basis as well.

To Seoul, To Kangnam-

Analysis of the applicants on the 2nd, the first day of application acceptance for Seoul area high schools, says that Kangnam was strongly preferred.

Out 1,700 individuals, who received the stand-by tickets by `overnight line-up`, 1,400 registered the transfer application, and 70 Per Cent of them have applied for high schools in the Kangnam area, including Seocho-gu and Kangnam-gu.

One of the `preferred schools`, `K` Girl’s High School, closed the application in the early morning of the day, and among the 19 schools that have closed applications by 3 p.m., presently, 16 were all schools in the Kangnam area. However, there was a contrary with schools in other areas like Kangbuk, as openings remained until the late afternoon.

A parent, Yim (47), said, “I want to transfer my child to `S` high school in Seocho-gu, but I plan to go for the supplementary registration on the 4th, because our stand-by ticket number is beyond 1,000 and some transfer documents are still unprepared.”

Certain parents complained that “it makes no sense to stay overnight because of the principle for allotments according to the order of applications, when we actually moved and our children must be transferred.” They also said, “The students allotted in schools that starts on the 4th could not even apply because they did not have transfer documents.”

Why Is This Happening?-

The `transfer line-up` of Seoul’s urban high schools has repeatedly occurred every year since the high school standardization in 1974. However, this year is especially early with transfer applicants, as the re-allotment situation of the metropolitan schools overlapped the tradition.

Also as 4 metropolitan area cities, including Bundang, Ilsan, Pyeongchon, and Anyang, turn into the areas of equalization, parents have worried that education conditions will worsen and they decided to transfer their children to Seoul, especially Kangnam, schools instead.

“My nephew was assigned at a school in Anyang and was reassigned at another school within 1 hour- distance, but is trying to transfer to a Kangnam high school because it was not what he wanted.”, said an office worker, Kim (45. Seonam city, Kyeonggi).

Some point out that allowing school transfer when only one of the parents move the resident registration also boosted the `transfer war`.

Are There Countermeasures?-

SMOE has currently started preparing measures to resolve the transfer fever, but is to maintain the big framework of `occasional registration in the order of applications`.

When SMOE executed the same method in 1996, transfer fever occurred in 1997, which resulted in the lottery method in 1998.

However, the method was re-adapted in 1999 because of the parents, who complained that the transfer-waiting time was too long and buying double uniforms and books was inconvenient.

SMOE authorities said, “Current fever might only be temporary due to the high school re-allotment situation in Kyeonggi province. Certain improvement measures will be made after analyzing the actual transfer movement in the first week of March”

Yong Park parky@donga.com