Over 100 elementary schools skip entrance ceremonies

With most elementary, middle and high school students nationwide holding entrance ceremonies on Monday, more than 100 elementary schools nationwide did not hold the events on the day due to lack of new students.

According to the Education Ministry and metropolitan and provincial offices of education, the number of new elementary students continued to decline since its peaking in 2010 (476,291 students) to hit as low as 436,621 last year. This year saw the number of new elementary students surge in an unusual phenomenon, as children born in 2007, the Year of Golden Pig according to Chinese zodiac, entered elementary schools. Despite this, not a few elementary schools, including 37 schools in South Jeolla Province, 23 in Gangwon Province, and 12 in North Gyeongsang Province, are set to embrace this year without receiving any first graders.

In the case of Gangwon Province where smaller-scale schools are more common than in other regions, the number of elementary students amounts to 80,743 in total this year. The figure is down 2,452 students from last year, but the number of classes only declined 40. The number of middle school students (52,012) fell 2,735 from last year, but the number of classes only decreased by 21. As a result, middle schools that have fewer than 20 students enrolled in all grades amount to as many as eight schools, including Sodal Middle School in Samcheok.

Considering economic viability only, maintaining such schools as they will add to significant burden on finances of provincial education authorities. In Gangwon and South Jeolla regions where many schools have a small number of students enrolled, the education expense per elementary student spent by the provincial office of education amounts to 8.2 million won (7,700 U.S. dollars) to 8.5 million won (7,900 dollars) per year. In contrast, the education expense amounts to 4.7 million won (4,400 dollars) to 5.1 million won (4,800 dollars) per student in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, where schools have large numbers of students enrolled. However, education authorities cannot run schools based solely on economic viability. If they choose to shut down schools just because of scarcity of enrolling students, educational environment in farming, forestry and fishing villages, which is already poor, will inevitably deteriorate even further. For this reason, Gangwon Province reduced the number of classes by a smaller extent than the degree of decline in student counts. A source at the Gangwon Provincial Office of Education said, “We are focusing on improving education environment, including reduction of student counts per class, and reduction in the number of classes where students of two different or more grades study together.”

As the number of students is sharply declining amid low fertility rate in Korea, controversy over closure of smaller-scale schools is set to escalate. There are worries that if smaller schools in farming, forestry and fishing villages are shut down unconditionally, it will not only cause problems with students’ having to commute long distances but also accelerate the deterioration of rural areas. However, if school sizes get too small, it is impossible to deploy teachers and manage academic subjects properly, which causes problems in education of students. The current situation cannot be left intact however. Hence, The Dong-A Ilbo has investigated the current situation of schools that were shut off across the nation, and sought to find a solution to the problem.