The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will invest 407.8 billion KRW next year to secure classrooms in order to alleviate overcrowded classes. Additionally, it aims to achieve 'zero' overcrowded classes in elementary schools across the province by 2025.
On the 18th, the Office announced a comprehensive plan to resolve overcrowded classes in elementary, middle, and high schools within the province. According to the plan, necessary classrooms will be secured through active financial investment and institutional improvements. In areas where establishing schools of a certain scale is difficult, various forms of school establishment such as second campuses or integrated operation schools will be pursued.
The Office particularly plans to completely eliminate overcrowded classes (28 or more students per class) in elementary schools by 2025. This year, overcrowded classes account for 16,153 out of a total of 57,125 classes in the province, representing 28.3%. To resolve this, an additional 2,886 classrooms need to be formed. The Office has allocated 407.8 billion KRW in the next year’s main budget to address this issue.
Furthermore, the minimum student allocation per class, currently set at 28 students for each school level, will be lowered to below 28. The Office also plans to actively promote institutional improvements such as establishing joint school districts or joint middle school zones with nearby schools to expand parents' options and alleviate overcrowded classes.
Moreover, in regions where establishing schools is difficult due to insufficient student demand, various types of school establishments such as second campuses, integrated operation schools, and small-scale schools will be pursued.
In particular, cooperation with local governments will be strengthened to promote the establishment of new schools by utilizing unused public properties and reserved land within development project districts.
However, for middle and high schools, there are difficulties in securing teachers, which is a prerequisite for resolving overcrowded classes, so the plan is to alleviate overcrowding gradually depending on the teacher situation.
Han Geun-su, Director of the School Establishment Planning Division at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, stated, "The comprehensive plan to resolve overcrowded classes is meaningful in that it presents a concrete goal of completely eliminating overcrowded classes in elementary schools by the 2025 academic year." He added, "We will request an increase in teachers from central government agencies and expand financial investment to resolve overcrowded classes in middle and high schools."
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