Population decline in South Korea causes 49 schools to shut down

(MENAFN) An overall of 49 elementary, middle, as well as high schools in South Korea's 17 towns and districts will be shut down this year as the percentage of school kids carries on decreasing, as reported by a Korean news agency on Sunday.

Based on government data, the amount of schools shutting down because of the small number of students has been growing quickly in the current years, increasing from 22 in 2023 to 33 in 2024.

The 88 percent of schools that are set to shut down by the time this year ends are in countryside regions, based on data from the Education Ministry.

In the capital of South Korea Seoul, there isn’t any school that might shut down, as Gyeonggi Province, the most populated one neighboring Seoul, has six schools encountering a shutdown.

South Jeolla Province, the further south area, announced the largest figure of schools encountering a shutdown, reaching 10, and South Chungcheong Province reaching nine, North Jeolla Province reaching eight, as well as Gangwon Province reaching seven.

Out of the 49 schools scheduled for shutdown, 38 are elementary schools, marking the majority, whereas eight are middle schools and three are high schools.

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