Hwaseong City Seeks Solutions to Overcrowded Classes in Dongtan and Hyangnam New Towns

Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun Requests Additional School Sites from Provincial Office of Education and LH

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province has taken steps to find solutions to the school issues in the Dongtan and Hyangnam new town areas, which are facing problems with overcrowded classes.

On the 21st, Hwaseong City announced that Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun visited the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education to meet with Superintendent Lim Tae-hee and delivered a proposal to address the overcrowded class issues in new towns such as Dongtan and Hyangnam, as well as the recent problem of long-distance commuting in the Neungdong district.

Jung Myung-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong (right), is delivering a petition to Lim Tae-hee, Superintendent of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, to resolve overcrowded classes in the new town.
[Photo by Hwaseong City]

During the meeting, Mayor Jeong stated, "Hwaseong City has experienced a large influx of young people due to large-scale public development projects such as Dongtan 2 District and Hyangnam 2 District, resulting in a shortage of school sites compared to the original plans." He emphasized, "In particular, Dongtan 2 District faces overcrowded class issues, leading to poor learning environments for students." In fact, although 18 school sites for middle and high schools have been established or are planned in Dongtan 2 District, the number of students per class is 32, which exceeds the Gyeonggi Office of Education's standard of 28 students per class.

Mayor Jeong also met with Kang Oh-soon, Head of the Southern Gyeonggi Regional Headquarters of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), at the Dongtan branch office on the same day to request additional school sites in the Dongtan area. During the meeting, Head Kang proposed securing additional school sites by utilizing long-unsold land and reserved land within Dongtan New Town to resolve the overcrowded class issue.

Mayor Jeong of Hwaseong said, "Hwaseong is the city with the youngest average age among basic local governments nationwide, and the increase in the school-age population due to rising birth rates and population inflow has made the educational environment a major issue. We will work closely with related organizations to promptly resolve educational issues such as overcrowded classes."