Up to 40 Billion Won in Support for Small-Scale Schools With Only Two Students Per Class... Focus Shifts From Simple Consolidation to Restoring the Educational Ecosystem

Ministry of Education to Select 40 “Leading Regions in Educational Innovation” This Year
2 Billion Won in Support Over Five Years... Up to 40 Billion Won for Small-Scale Schools
“Focus on Building High-Quality Educational Ecosystems Over Blanket Consolidation”

To improve educational conditions at small-scale schools, the government is launching an initiative to foster a “regional educational ecosystem” by nurturing hub schools and leveraging each school's unique characteristics. This marks a shift away from the previous approach of simply consolidating or merging small schools based solely on student numbers. The aim is to drive innovation in regional education and, ultimately, enhance local living conditions. Unlike the past, when consolidation of small schools was carried out primarily for economic reasons, the new strategy emphasizes collaboration among education offices, local governments, and the community to create an environment that delivers high-quality education.

On June 10, the Ministry of Education announced the “Basic Plan for Leading Regions in Educational Innovation,” which outlines these measures. This year, the Ministry of Education will designate 40 “leading regions in educational innovation” and provide 2 billion won in funding to each over the next five years to help them develop educational innovation models tailored to local conditions.

The support will be divided into two types: Type 1 (around 30 regions) and Type 2 (around 10 regions). Type 1 regions are "areas of population decline (of interest)" where over 60% of all schools are small-scale. In these areas, it is mandatory to build a high-quality educational ecosystem, and support will be provided to promote various forms of innovation at small-scale schools suited to local circumstances. In addition to the core tasks, local communities will also be able to autonomously pursue initiatives such as creating child-rearing environments based on community collaboration, running regionally specialized educational programs, and launching rural study abroad programs, all tailored to local needs.

Type 2 regions have relatively well-established infrastructure, such as universities and businesses, compared to other regions, but still experience ongoing population outflow and face issues of educational disparity within the region. Here, the core tasks will be “reducing educational disparities within the region” and “strengthening university-industry linked education.”

Leading regions in educational innovation will be designated at the basic local government (city/county) level, and the “Regional Educational Innovation Council,” which oversees the operation of these regions, will include not only superintendents, local heads of education, and local government leaders, but also allow for participation from the wider community. In addition, intermediary support organizations will be established to connect education offices, local governments, schools, and villages, thus ensuring the sustainability of the educational community’s activities.

Since flexible application of current educational policies is required for regional innovation, the legal basis for educational special provisions will also be established. The Ministry of Education stated it will actively cooperate with the National Assembly to pass legislation related to “leading regions in educational innovation” that is currently pending, aiming to enact the law by the end of this year.

The Ministry of Education will gather feedback from stakeholders on the current draft, announce the project at the end of this month, and select leading regions in the second half of the year, with full implementation to begin next year.

Additionally, the Ministry of Education has announced a plan to enhance regional educational capacity through small-scale school innovation, aiming to disseminate successful models developed in leading regions to other areas.

According to the Ministry of Education, the proportion of small-scale schools nationwide rose from 23% in 2016 to 31.3% last year. Small-scale schools are defined as those with 60 or fewer students in rural and remote areas; 120 or fewer elementary students or 180 or fewer middle school students in towns; and 240 or fewer elementary students or 300 or fewer middle school students in cities.

To encourage autonomous innovation that reflects regional conditions and characteristics, the Ministry of Education has decided to abolish the “Guidelines for Nurturing Appropriately Sized Schools and Restructuring Branch Campuses,” which have been in place since 2015. Going forward, provincial and municipal education offices will establish their own criteria for school size and consolidation procedures, while the Ministry of Education will provide consulting support through specialized agencies.

A Ministry of Education official stated, “In small-scale schools, it is common for a homeroom teacher to teach classes of only two or three students.” He added, “Although measures to consolidate small-scale schools have been introduced due to difficulties in curriculum delivery, these approaches have mostly focused on economic aspects in the past.” He further explained, “The new plan does not simply consolidate schools according to a set number of students, but instead places emphasis on student growth and strengthening educational capacity. Elementary and middle schools may be merged, and for activities such as clubs or debates where student numbers make instruction difficult, schools will be able to collaborate with one another, supporting autonomous innovation.”

Ministry of Education

Financial support will also be greatly expanded to ensure the smooth implementation of small-scale school innovation. The guidelines will be amended so that budgets can be allocated from the pre-consolidation phase, and a special addition (number of schools × 1.5) will be applied for closed schools when calculating ordinary grant funds. The school consolidation support grant (incentive), which supports school mergers and branch restructuring, will be increased by more than 50% compared to the current level. As a result, one-time support for school restructuring (such as school mergers and branch restructuring) will increase from 4 to 6 billion won to 7.5 billion won for elementary schools, and from 9 to 11 billion won to 13 billion won for middle and high schools, respectively. For example, if three small-scale schools merge and receive package support, the maximum amount could reach up to 40 billion won.

The Ministry of Education expects that this project will address the limitations of small-scale schools, such as providing tailored lessons, utilizing native-speaking assistant teachers, securing after-school programs, and operating experiential learning activities.

Minister of Education Choi Kyojin stated, “The key to school innovation is not to reduce the number of schools, but to improve the quality of education.” He added, “The goal of this policy is to create truly excellent schools where students can experience distinctive and diverse curricula and grow within their communities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.