Rural schools struggle to stay open in the face of dwindling, aging populations

Social Affairs

Published: 25 Jan. 2023, 19:02 Updated: 25 Jan. 2023, 19:40

Rural schools struggle to stay open in the face of dwindling, aging populations

Sincheon Middle School in Yeongwol County, Gangwon, closed last year. [KIM TAE-YUN]

With nearly 4,000 schools closed in rural Korea, some local officials and education experts have started to accept the reality that there may be no turning back the trend.

“We’ve had zero new births in this town for the past few years,” said Kim Seong-wook, principal of Socheon Elementary School in Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang. “As the rural population dries up, so do the fates of local schools.”

Having welcomed zero new students over the past three years, the school has just 10 students left, all of whom will graduate within the next three years.

There are 2,173 schools nationwide facing closure soon for lack of students.

A total of 3,896 schools closed nationwide between 1976 and last year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Of them, 21.5 percent were located in South Jeolla, 18.9 percent in North Gyeongsang, 14.9 percent in South Gyeongsang, 12 percent in Gangwon, 8.4 percent in North Jeolla, 6.9 percent in South Chungcheong and 6.6 percent in North Chungcheong.

Some 193 schools closed between 2017 and 2022, 88.6 percent of which were located outside of the greater Seoul area.

The country’s rapid urbanization from the 1970s, coupled with record low births in recent years, has left rural towns without sustainable populations.

A little over half of the nation's population lives in the greater Seoul area, according to last year's census.

“Most schools without new graduates cannot survive for long, and go through the steps of closing, downgrading or merging,” said an official of a local education office who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Some schools were able to avoid closing by merging, such as the Gaya, Soongsan and Haein Elementary Schools in Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang, which merged into one in 2019, bringing together their 68 students.

Not all schools are this lucky.

An attempt to merge two middle schools in Yeongwol County, Gangwon in 2021 was put on hold after the parents and school communities couldn’t reach an agreement on which of the two schools’ facilities to salvage.

Usually in school merges, one school and its facilities are selected and the other abandoned.

The three elementary schools in Hapcheon were able to avoid this dispute after they were able to pool enough resources to build a new school altogether.

The original sites of the three schools remain largely abandoned today.

An elementary school that closed 25 years ago and abandoned since in Jinan County, North Jeolla. [KIM TAE-YUN]

Some local communities have tried to turn closed schools into facilities for the elderly, who make up a majority in these rural towns.

Three middle schools in Boeun County, South Chungcheong, closed in 2011.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is funding a project to build homes for the elderly, a type of so-called "silver town," where the three schools used to be.

Around 17 billion won ($13.8 million) will be invested to finish the project by 2024, an official from Boeun County told the JoongAng Ilbo.

One elementary school in Buyeo County, South Chungcheong, which produced 5,000 graduates between 1951 and 2018, has since been closed and turned into a local college for the elderly.

Some 100 elderly residents are taking classes at the school every Thursday.

Inse Elementary School in Buyeo County, South Chungcheong, closed in 2018 and since then has been converted into a community college for the elderly. [KIM TAE-YUN]

Though such measures may fix the problem of what to do with the abandoned facilities, they do not directly address the dwindling young population in the rural areas, some locals say.

“Young people have left the town over the past 30 years, and now we have just three children here,” said Kim Seong-ki, a life-long resident of Hongcheon County, Gangwon.

Kim is a graduate of local Jwaun Elementary School, which opened in 1934.

In its heyday the school had around 550 students, Kim said.

It closed for lack of students in March 2021, one of 56 schools to close in Hongcheon since 1982.

“The closure of schools is like a death sentence for rural towns,” said another local resident.

Local authorities and the central government have tried to salvage the dwindling rural population through programs like subsidizing housing and providing employment opportunities for families who move to rural towns.

Education offices in the Jeolla region have conducted one such program in recent years.

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has made a resolution to the aging population and low births, and rapid school closures in rural towns a national priority.

“Reforms in education will be key to balance development across the country and resolving the low birthrate problem,” Yoon said in a meeting with the education minister on Jan. 5. “There needs to be sufficient and clear communications between the local and central government on education, and a balanced share of responsibilities and power.”

BY KIM TAE-YUN, ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]