By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Many primary, middle and high schools in Seoul and throughout the nation are seeking mergers as their student numbers have fallen to record lows.

For the first time in Seoul, the number of elementary school students per class fell under 30.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the elementary school students fell to 598,000 this year, down 35,000 from last year. This is the first time the number has dropped below 600,000.

Middle school student figures decreased to 355,000, the lowest in 10 years.

As of April 1, there were 29.8 students in a primary school classroom, down 8.4 in just a decade.

In middle schools, the number of students per class decreased to 34.4 from 34.7 in 2008, but the number of high-school students rose to 34.8 from the previous year's 34.4.

The per-class numbers for high schools exceeded that of middle schools for the first time since 2004.

Seoul is not alone in seeing a drop in elementary school students. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology reported in September that the total number of students ― from kindergarten to high school ― is about 8 million in 2009, down 170,000 from the previous year. The decline was particularly noticeable in elementary schools. Over the past year, the number of elementary school children fell by 197,800.

Still, the number is larger than the average for OECD countries which stood at 21.5 pupils in an elementary school class, and 24.1 in middle school in 2007.

The standard deviation in class sizes was also relatively high in Korea. In Seoul, the most populated classes had more than 40 students while the least dense classes had around 15.

The number of students per teacher also decreased to 20.6 in elementary school and 18.8 in middle school.

Despite the decline in the number of students, the number of schools has increased. There are eight new schools among the 586 elementary schools in Seoul, 374 middle schools with five new ones and 308 high schools with six being new.

The Seoul education office is considering merging small elementary schools in the downtown area.

The education office will support the merger. Currently former school sites can only be sold and used for parks or rental apartments and the regulation is not welcomed by private educational institutions.

"It is efficient for academic institutions to move where student demand exists and sell previous locations," a city education official said.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr