This Sept. 6, 2021, file photo shows a teacher teaching a class with partial attendance at an elementary school in northern Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The government plans to reduce the public school workforce due to a decline in the student population.
According to the plan that the Ministry of Education formulated through consultations with other government agencies, the government will lower the number of public school teachers to 344,906 next year, a reduction of 2,982 teachers from this year.
If the plan is confirmed, it will be the first time for the government to reduce the number of public school teachers.
Despite a decline in the school-age population, the number of public school teachers has been on an upward trend, rising from 342,426 in 2020 to 345,902 in 2021 and 347,888 this year.
Although there has been a decrease in the number of curricular teachers at elementary, middle and high schools, the overall number of public school teachers has increased mainly due to the increase in the number of kindergarten teachers and special education and extracurricular teachers.
In the government’s plan for next year, however, the growth in the number of kindergarten teachers and special education and extracurricular teachers was smaller than the decline in the number of curricular teachers at elementary, middle and high schools, resulting in a decline in the overall number of public school teachers.
Amid a plunge in the number of students, the employment of new teachers has declined in some regions for several years, hinting that the time will come for the overall number of public school teachers to decline.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
