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Nearly 400 elementary schools have one or no incoming students this year

Published: 08 Aug. 2025, 16:24

A classroom inside an elementary school in Seoul is seen on Sept. 4, 2023. [NEWS1]

Korea’s shrinking school-age population has left nearly 400 elementary schools with only one or no incoming students this year, according to Education Ministry data.

Of 6,288 schools nationwide, 400 — including branch campuses — reported a single new enrollee or none at all. That figure is double the 200 schools out of 6,243 recorded in 2017. By region, North Gyeongsang had the largest number of schools with zero or one incoming student, at 67, followed by South Jeolla with 64, South Gyeongsang with 61 and North Jeolla with 60.

The number of children aged 5 to 9 has fallen 18 percent since 2017, dropping below 2 million this year. Seoul has the smallest share of that age group in its population, at just 3.1 percent.

“In some rural schools, children spend all 12 years with the same classmates,” said Lee Sam-sik, a Hanyang University professor who studies population issues. “Korea should consider temporary school integrations, as Japan has, to adapt to the low birth rate.”

Falling enrollment is also driving down hiring for new teachers.

Education offices plan to recruit 3,113 public elementary school teachers next year, down 6.2 percent from 2018 and 26.7 percent from this year’s preliminary figure. Gyeonggi Province will hire the largest share, followed by North Gyeongsang, Busan and South Chungcheong.

Members from the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, the Korean Federation of Teachers Unions and Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union call for a policy and systematic change to restore teachers’ authority in classroom and urge the government to register the death of a young teacher from Seo2 Elementary School as a line-of-duty death on Feb. 20, 2024, in front of the government complex in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

“With an increase in students facing emotional and behavioral challenges and from multicultural backgrounds, teachers’ responsibilities in student guidance are growing,” said the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union. “Yet there is virtually no expansion of regular teaching staff to meet this demand.”

“With more than 7,000 teachers leaving the profession each year, excluding those retiring at the mandatory age, the current level of new teacher hiring makes things even harder in the field,” said the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations. “Expanding the teaching force is the starting point for normalizing public education and improving its quality.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM MIN-SANG, LEE BO-RAM [[email protected]]