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Seoul unveils $184M 5-year plan to transform its studentless schools

Published: 18 Mar. 2026, 17:10

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education building is seen in Yongsan District in central Seoul on March 5. [YONHAP]

With schools shutting down due to a declining number of children and young students, Seoul's education office will fill those emptying spaces with new opportunities as education centers, special schools and multi-use public spaces.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on Wednesday unveiled a five-year strategic plan to convert former school sites and closed schools into future-oriented education hubs and shared public spaces by 2030.

As the school-age population declines and schools merge or close, the number of closed schools and unused facilities continues to grow across the country. Authorities have been handling such cases one by one as they arise, often leading to financial strain and conflicts with local governments and residents over how to manage them. Hence the new guideline comes as the first set of long-term plans for management and consistency.

The plan focuses on four main goals: creating shared education spaces, building new learning centers for emerging technologies, adding public-use facilities and improving how these sites are managed. The office will divide Seoul into five areas and set up needed facilities step by step.

The parking lot of Seoul Hwayang Elementary School in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, operates as a resident-only parking lot on Jan. 3, 2024. [NEWS1]

This year, the office will build an “Eco School,” an environmental education center, on the site of Gongjin Middle School in Gangseo District, western Seoul. It will be followed next year with a “Mind Healing School,” a facility that supports students’ mental health and emotional well-being, on the site of Deoksu High School’s Haengdang branch campus in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul.

An AI education center will open in 2028 at the former Seoul education office building in Jongno District, central Seoul. The plan also includes opening Seongjin School, a special school for students with disabilities, in 2029 on the site of Seongsu Technical High School in Seongdong District.

To carry out the plan, the office has set guidelines to manage closed schools and gather residents’ feedback. The office estimates the total project cost at about 273.2 billion won ($184 million), which amounts to about 2.5 percent of its annual budget.

It plans to cover 71 percent of the cost on its own and secure the rest through government funding and other external sources. It is also considering creating a joint fund involving the education office, the Seoul city government and the central government to ensure stable implementation.

“This strategy will connect education spaces across Seoul and reorganize them into future education infrastructure,” Superintendent Jung Keun-sik said. “We will help both students and citizens build skills for the future.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE BO-RAM [[email protected]]