The number of students in the school system decreased between 2010 and 2011, highlighting the government’s futile efforts to tackle the low birthrate here, said the education ministry on Wednesday.

According to data by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korean Educational Development Institute, the number of students in kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school has decreased about 220,000 or 2.8 percent from the previous year.

The decrease is the biggest the ministry has seen since 2000. In 2010 the number of enrolled students decreased by 2.6 percent from the previous year, 1.5 percent between 2007 and 2008, and 0.2 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Elementary schools saw a 5.1 percent decrease with 166,617 fewer students than 2010.

In Seoul alone, the number of elementary school students was 566,149 last year, 32,365 or 5.4 percent down from the previous year. The figure has declined for nine years in a row since 2002, according to the latest city data.

Despite a decrease in the number of students, the number of schools across the country from kindergarten to high school increased to 19,974 this year, up 124 from last year. Due to new town development projects and population movement, 276 schools were established and 151 closed.

The number of students this year reached 7,601,544, down 221,338 or 2.8 percent from the previous year. Elementary school students numbered 3,132,477 this year, 5.1 percent or 166,617 down from 2010. The figure was 55.4 percent of that of 1980.

High schools saw a decrease in enrollments of 18,552 students, and middle schools of 64,226 students, but kindergartens saw an increase of 26,447 students.

The number of students per class and per faculty has also dropped by up to one student in certain levels.

The number of faculty, however, saw an increase of 13,229 people from last year, with females making up 67.1 percent of the entire staff.

The statistics also showed that school attendance for elementary students was 98.2 percent, middle school, 97.8 percent, and high school, 92.8 percent.

Those continuing on to the next level of education were 99.9 percent for elementary students, 99.7 percent for middle school and 72.5 percent for high schools.

On the flipside, the 434 institutes of higher education from two-year colleges to four-year universities saw a steady increase in the number of students over the past five years. The figure rose by 91,549 this year from last year.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)