[Exclusive] Apartments Inside Schools Facing Student Shortage... First 'Jugo Complex' in Jongno

School Reorganization Due to Declining Student Population... Public Housing on Surplus Land
Jongno-gu Discusses Pilot Project Area Around 'Seoul Hyoje Elementary School'
Possible Joint Development with Nearby Jungbu Education Support Office... Including Office Facilities

The so-called 'Jugo Complex,' which links small-scale schools and public housing in the city center, will be established in Jongno, Seoul. This is a new alternative to maintain 'appropriately sized schools' by reorganizing schools experiencing a rapid decline in student numbers and supplying residential and office facilities on the remaining land.

On the 15th, according to Seoul City and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) recently selected the site of Seoul Hyoje Elementary School located at 255-4 Hyoje-dong, Jongno-gu, as a pilot project site for school complex development and has begun work to establish detailed development plans.

[Exclusive] Apartments Inside Schools Facing Student Shortage... First 'Jugo Complex' in Jongno

The school complex development project targeting approximately 20,000㎡ of the Hyoje Elementary School site differs from previous projects led by the Ministry of Education or local governments. Until now, projects utilized idle facilities or land within schools to install educational, care, cultural, and sports facilities for students and local residents to use together, but this project is being promoted as a Jugo (housing + school) complex type.

Previously, the Office of Education announced plans to establish such 'urban campuses' as a way to respond to the declining school-age population and save schools facing closure. This plan considers both the rapid decrease in student numbers and the demand for housing development in Seoul's regional characteristics. The school land will be used to rebuild existing schools and operate them as urban campuses, while the residential land will include conditional rental public apartments.

To concretize the project, the Office of Education formed a consultative body with Seoul City, SH Corporation, and others to discuss the plan. SH Corporation, which oversees public development in the city center, announced earlier this year during related service projects that it would "respect the decisions of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, promote projects for future generations, and establish a sustainable Jugo complex model to contribute to the mutual development of the local community."

This development is also significant because it will be developed together with the adjacent Jungbu Education Support Office. If the renovation of the aging public office building is promoted simultaneously, office facilities will also be included on the site along with the school and residential facilities.

During the process of discussing detailed plans for land use, the consultative body plans to calculate everything from the housing supply method, including the rental and sale ratio and supply types of housing, to land ownership methods, donation and lease structures. Although eligibility criteria will differ by sector, it is known that a condition requiring a certain percentage of supplied units to be occupied by elementary school parents is also being considered.

This project model is also being handled separately within Jongno-gu, the local autonomous district. As a utilization plan to maintain the function of Hyoje Elementary School, the construction of 'school apartments,' a method similar to the Jugo Complex, is under discussion. Ra Do-gyun, chairman of the Jongno District Council, said, "The plan is to build apartments within the school, with the lower floors used as school facilities and the upper floors as welfare, convenience, and residential facilities," adding, "We plan to review detailed plans for project implementation with the district office soon."

The education sector has high expectations for the expansion of the school complex project as a way to prevent the closure of elementary schools and coexist with local residents. It is expected to be effective not only in preventing the outflow of young populations but also in creating housing and jobs. Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Education for Seoul, also warned of a full-scale crisis response, saying, "By 2030, the school-age population will be halved compared to 2012, but we cannot reduce the number of schools by half."

Starting with Hyoje Elementary School, the 'Jugo Complex' model is likely to spread nationwide. Even in Seoul alone, the number of elementary, middle, and high school students decreased from 1.16 million in 2012 to 800,000 in 2022 and is expected to drop to 570,000, half of the 2012 level, by 2030. Statistics also show that the number of first-grade elementary students nationwide, which fell to 400,000 last year, is unlikely to exceed 350,000 this year. In some areas, school closures have already become a reality, causing long-distance commuting issues. An education office official said, "Detailed project plans will be finalized through future discussions, and various policies to save schools will be considered."