Students study English during an Access program class at Great Vision School, an alternative school for North Korean defectors, located in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The dropout rate of North Korean defector students inched up over the past year, a state-run institute said Monday.
The 2022 dropout rate for elementary, middle and high school defector students stood at about 1.6 percent (based on April 2021), up 0.4 percentage points from a year ago, according to the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI).
Although it’s difficult to say that it’s a meaningful change since the number of dropout students is low (an increase from 27 to 34 people), the number of such students increased by 26 percent over the past year.
By school grade, the number of high school dropout students was the highest at 19, followed by 13 middle school students and two elementary school students.
The dropout rate has fluctuated around 3 percent over the past five years. The KEDI has not disclosed the statistics on the reasons why the students have dropped out.
As of April, the number of defector students studying in South Korea stood at 2,061, down 226 from a year earlier.
Among students, the share of those who are born in North Korea has been on a declining trend over the past five years, hitting a record low of 30.8 percent.
In contrast, the share of those who are born in other countries, including China, has been on an upward trend.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
