Facing enrollment crisis, Seoul boosts funding, support for small schools

Education officials in Seoul are stepping up support for the city's smallest schools, as falling student numbers reshape classrooms across the capital and beyond. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced Tuesday that 11 elementary schools and one middle school were newly designated as “Seoul-type small schools,” expanding a program launched in 2017 to help such institutions operate more sustainably. Previously, eight schools had received financial support and other benefits under the initiative. “We will continue to provide support through the Seoul-style small school policy so that small schools, in cooperation with their local communities, can grow into ones that satisfy students, parents and teachers alike,” Education Superintendent Jung Keun-sik said. The announcement comes amid a drop in enrollment at many schools. These so-called small schools — elementary schools with 240 or fewer students and middle schools with 300 or fewer — are becoming increasingly common. Seoul now has 185 such schools, up from 101 in 2021, an increase of 84 in just four years. KoreaWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times