14 Closed Schools to Be Leased Free of Charge... Gyeongbuk Office of Education Now Accepting Applications

On July 13, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education (Superintendent Lim Jong-sik) announced the launch of the "2026 Closed School Utilization Public Contest Project" to repurpose the increasing number of closed schools each year as spaces for coexistence with the local community.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education stated, "This public contest project aims to revitalize local communities by transforming unused closed schools into spaces for community activities, income generation, and welfare enhancement for local residents. The core goal is to support rural and fishing villages facing the risk of population decline by utilizing closed schools as bases for residents’ daily life and as foundational facilities for regional development."

Gumi Haepyeong Elementary School Hyangsan Branch has been transformed into a smart farm and a village lifelong learning facility.

This project targets local resident groups or local governments in which more than 50% of the actual residents within the school’s attendance area participate. If these groups intend to use the closed school as a community facility or an income-generating facility, the land and buildings of the closed school can be leased free of charge.

Community facilities refer to shared spaces for lifelong education, cultural and welfare activities, and sports facilities for local residents. Income-generating facilities include smart farms, cultivation of special-purpose crops, rural experience centers, and other facilities that contribute to revitalizing the local economy and increasing residents’ income.

For this year’s contest, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education conducted a comprehensive review of the usability, property status, and local conditions of unused closed schools, and selected 14 closed schools in eight cities and counties—Andong, Gumi, Mungyeong, Uiseong, Goryeong, Seongju, Bonghwa, and Uljin—as eligible schools for the public contest.

The application period for the contest runs from July 13 to August 14. Applicants must complete the application form and business plan and submit them to the Financial Division of the Gyeongbuk Office of Education by mail or in person. If local governments are supporting the project, relevant supporting documents can be submitted as well.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education plans to select the final recipients by comprehensively evaluating the public interest and feasibility of the submitted project plans through a first-round document review, collection of opinions from the local education offices, on-site inspections of the closed schools, and deliberation by the Public Property Review Committee.

The evaluation will comprehensively assess the participation rate of residents within the attendance area, suitability of the facility as a community or income-generating facility, feasibility of the project, and expected effects such as local community development, population inflow, and income growth for residents. Projects selected as finalists will enter into free lease agreements with the relevant local education office by the end of this year.

Even after the free lease is signed, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education plans to continuously manage the implementation of the project through quarterly on-site inspections and support the stable operation of closed schools as spaces for local residents.

Meanwhile, through the 2024 closed school utilization contest, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education selected four sites—Pohang Iga Elementary School, Gyeongju Uigok Elementary School Ilbu Branch, Gumi Haepyeong Elementary School Hyangsan Branch, and Yeongyang Subi Elementary School Sinam Branch—to carry out region-specific utilization projects such as fishing village experience centers, smart farms, village lifelong learning centers, special-purpose crop cultivation facilities, and community sports facilities.

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