
The declining birthrate has led to a sharp drop in elementary school enrollment across South Korea, particularly in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province.
The number of first-grade students in Gwangju has fallen below 10,000 for the first time this year, and one school reported having only one new student.
According to data from provincial education offices of Gwangju and South Jeolla Province on Tuesday, just 9,969 children are set to enter elementary schools in Gwangju this year, down 1,423 from the previous year. The decline has been sharp, with 12,538 students enrolling in 2023 and 11,392 in 2024.
The impact has been particularly severe for smaller schools. Among the 155 elementary schools in Gwangju, 17 said they had fewer than 15 new students. One school recorded just one new student, while other schools had two to less than 10 students. The average number of students per class in Gwangju has also dropped to 20.4.
In South Jeolla Province, the number of first-grade students fell to 10,108, a drop of 1,047 from the previous year. This trend of declining enrollment continues, with numbers decreasing by over 1,000 students annually since 2023 when 12,881 students enrolled.
Particularly alarming is the number of schools with no new first-grade students. Across the province, 32 schools failed to enroll a single first-grader. These include seven schools in Yeosu, four in Boseong, four in Jindo, and several others in regions such as Jangheung and Wando.
Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education acknowledged the severity of the situation, stating, “We are making efforts to attract students through programs such as rural education exchange initiatives, but the broader trend of population decline and regional extinction is making it increasingly difficult to sustain student numbers.”
With a record-low number of new students persisting every year, experts predict that the average number of students per elementary school class could fall into the single-digits in the next 10 years.
Based on school-age population data that Statistics Korea released in 2023, the Good Teachers Movement said the average number of students per class could drop from 21.1 as of 2024 to 9.3 in 2033 and 8.8 in 2034, the group said, adding that the figure could fall further to 5.5 in 2060 and 2.7 in 2070.