Enrollment ceremony at an elementary school in Seoul (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – With the world’s lowest birthrate leading to a rapidly shrinking school-age population in South Korea, the government plans to curtail admissions to colleges of education that train new teachers, following earlier moves to scale back the hiring of instructors.
The adjustment comes amid concerns over a worsening imbalance between dwindling student enrollment and an oversupply of aspiring teachers.
While the number of potential students has dropped sharply over the past decade, the intake of prospective teachers has remained relatively steady, intensifying competition to secure teaching positions.
According to the 2023 Basic Education Statistics released on April 11, the number of students from kindergarten through high school stood at 5,783,612 as of April 1 last year, down 96,156, or 1.6 percent, from the previous year.
South Korea’s student population peaked at around 10.31 million in 1986 before entering a declining trend that saw it slip below 10 million in 1990. Last year marked the first time it fell under 6 million.
The decline has been particularly steep at the elementary school level in recent years. After hitting 478,890 first-grade students in the 2014 academic year, this number is expected to dip below 400,000 for the first time this year.
With only 369,441 children of admission age for the current school year, and factoring in those deferring enrollment, the incoming first-grade class is forecast to be around 360,000.
First day at school (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
There were 157 elementary schools nationwide that had zero admission-age children this year, and projections suggest the downturn in potential students will persist.
In contrast, policies governing teacher supply have lagged the demographic shift.
While the Education Ministry plans to reduce hiring of new elementary school teachers by 10.1 to 18.6 percent to around 3,200 to 2,900 annually in 2024-2025 compared to 3,561 last year, the intake at teachers’ colleges has been frozen at 3,847 since 2016, after dropping from 6,224 in 2006 to 3,848 in 2012.
As a result, the number of prospective elementary school teachers continues to outpace hiring. Based on current policies, graduates from teachers’ colleges could exceed hiring by up to 30 percent in 2024-2025 and by as much as 50 percent in 2026-2027.
The excess supply of candidates has driven down hiring rates for elementary school teachers. In some regions, the hiring rate stands between just 10 to 20 percent.
While the Education Ministry plans to reduce intake at teacher training programs by 12 percent starting in 2025 to help rectify the imbalance, some critics view the cuts as inadequate.
“Considering the 12 percent reduction along with dropout rates, we expect the annual number of teaching program graduates to drop to the low 3,000 range, which would be similar to hiring levels,” said a ministry official, who requested anonymity to discuss policy matters.
“We will continue to make adjustments going forward based on factors like university operations, hiring volumes and admission trends.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
