Six Out of Ten Schools Still Have Squat Toilets

Minjeong Ko: "We Must Review School Environments Before Discussing Education Grant Reform"

74 Buildings with Safety Grade D Require Urgent Repair and Reinforcement

According to recent data, six out of every ten elementary, middle, and high schools across the country are equipped with squat toilets in their school restrooms.

On August 13, Democratic Party lawmaker Minjeong Ko, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, released data received from the Ministry of Education titled "Schools with Squat Toilets in Elementary, Middle, and High Schools Nationwide." According to the data, out of 12,135 elementary, middle, high, and special-purpose schools, 7,504 schools have squat toilets, accounting for approximately 62% of all schools.

By school type, elementary schools had the highest number with 3,845, followed by middle schools with 2,032, high schools with 1,600, and special-purpose schools with 27.

By region, the breakdown was as follows: Gyeonggi Province 1,704 schools, Seoul 862 schools, Gyeongnam 791 schools, Gyeongbuk 612 schools, Jeonnam 547 schools, and Busan 509 schools.

Additionally, 5,705 schools, accounting for 47% of all schools, have buildings over 40 years old. By school type, this includes 3,009 elementary schools, 1,463 middle schools, 1,185 high schools, and 48 special-purpose schools. Notably, an investigation found that 74 buildings among all school educational facilities require urgent repairs.

According to data titled "Status of School Safety Inspections" received by the lawmaker's office from the Ministry of Education, as of April this year, 74 buildings had received a safety inspection grade of D. The office pointed out, "A D grade indicates major structural defects, requiring urgent repair or reinforcement, and a determination must be made as to whether continued use is permitted."

There also remain fire-prone facilities that are directly linked to student safety. Drivit, a material vulnerable to fire, is still present in about 20% of schools, according to the findings.

Lawmaker Ko commented, "It is questionable whether buildings that are over 40 years old and squat toilets would remain in schools if education finances were truly sufficient with a surplus. Before discussing a reform of local education finance grants, we must first closely examine the environments in which our children study and accurately calculate how much funding is needed to improve these conditions going forward."

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