This Year, 811 Classes Decreased in Seoul... Student Number Down by About 17,000

Number of Schools with Water Supply Decreased by 7 Compared to Last Year

The number of students in kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in Seoul has decreased compared to the previous year, resulting in a reduction in the number of classes.

According to the "2024 Academic Year Class Formation Results" announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 10th, the total number of students in kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, and special schools was 837,834, a decrease of about 17,478 compared to the previous year. The number of elementary school students was 364,910, down by 15,529, and middle school students numbered 196,453, a decrease of 2,195. High school students increased by 1,801 to 207,585.

The total number of classes was 39,073, a decrease of 811 classes compared to the previous year. Elementary schools had 17,432 classes, down by 453, middle schools had 8,233 classes, a decrease of 125, and high schools had 8,763 classes, down by 199.

Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The total number of schools also decreased. The number of kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, and special schools was 2,128, down by 7 schools from the previous year. The number of kindergartens was 763, a decrease of 6, while public kindergartens increased by 2 compared to the previous year. Elementary schools numbered 609, an increase of 1, middle schools remained unchanged at 390, and high schools decreased by 2.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "Despite facing many difficulties in forming appropriate classes due to the Ministry of Education's reduction in teacher quotas amid the ongoing decline in the school-age population, we plan to continue efforts to improve educational conditions by managing an appropriate number of classes considering trends in student number changes, regional and school-specific conditions, and reducing the number of students per class."