"Cutting 3,000 More Positions, Low Pay but More Work"... Teachers Angry Over Staff Reductions

Legislative Notice from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety... 3,060 Teaching Positions to Be Cut
"Adjusting Teacher Staffing Due to Declining School-Age Population"
Teacher Organizations Oppose, Citing "Quality of Education"
Backlash: "What About Customized Education?"

The government has been reducing the number of teachers for the third consecutive year since 2023, sparking backlash from teacher organizations and educators. They argue that as individualized and customized education becomes increasingly important, the government is recklessly cutting staff solely based on the declining school-age population.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's "Partial Amendment to the Regulations on the Number of National Public Officials Assigned to Local Educational Administrative Agencies and Public Schools at All Levels - Legislative Notice," the number of elementary school teachers will be reduced by 2,424 and middle and high school teachers by 2,443 this year. Even after reflecting the temporarily increased number of teachers until 2027 to ensure basic academic skills, the total number of teachers will decrease by 3,060, including 1,300 elementary and 1,760 secondary teachers. Due to the regulation amendment, 3,401 teachers were cut in 2023 and 4,296 in 2024.

The government cites the decline in the school-age population as the reason. According to the Ministry of Education's "2024 Elementary, Middle, and High School Student Number Main Projection," the school-age population will decrease from 5,021,845 this year to 4,844,655 in 2026 and 4,077,296 in 2030.

However, teacher organizations argue that teachers should not be reduced in line with recent educational goals such as customized education. The Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations stated in a position paper, "The mechanical economic logic that teachers must be cut because the number of students is decreasing evades the national responsibility to improve the quality of education," adding, "With the full implementation of the high school credit system, a significant increase in teachers is necessary, and the introduction of AI digital textbooks requires reducing the number of students per class to below 20 through increasing teachers to provide customized education tailored to student levels."

There are concerns that reducing the number of teachers amid worsening teacher avoidance due to complaints and low pay will increase workloads and lead to a "teacher shortage." Seong Mo, a 28-year-old middle school teacher, said, "While I understand it might be inevitable considering the future decline in student numbers, the increased workload from having to cover other schools is burdensome," expressing fear that "teacher avoidance might lead to a shortage of teachers like in Japan."

The Ministry of Education maintains its stance on reducing teachers but says it will strive to ensure that the quality of education is not compromised. A Ministry of Education official explained, "We agree with reducing teachers because the school-age population is drastically decreasing," but added, "Since there are new educational demands and overcrowded classes in new towns, we are negotiating to ease the scale of reductions and set the number accordingly."