Seoul children, parents discover fun in countryside amid COVID-19

Students, parents and teachers of Jungdong Elementary School enjoy a Friday camp night at the school's front porch on Oct. 21. Courtesy of Jungdong Elementary School

School in rural southwestern county bustles with students who left city life and now outnumber local peers

By Ko Dong-hwan

Jungdong Elementary School in Gurye County, South Jeolla Province / Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan

GURYE, South Jeolla Province ― Several teachers of Jungdong Elementary School, deep in the countryside of South Jeolla Province, are busy setting up three barbecues at the school's front entrance. A few steps up and to the right of the entrance is an indoor gymnasium, inside are 10 outdoor camping tents, which fill up the room ― a somewhat weird place to pitch a tent. The school, a two-storied structure with about 10 classrooms, contains four cardboard boxes each filled with snacks and plastic bags full of fruits and vegetables and other produce, which are located on the first floor next to the Teachers' Office. All in preparation for a school camping experience event scheduled to take place later that night on Friday, Oct. 21.

The participants in the camping experience are the school's 22 students and their parents ― mostly mothers ― who last year moved their children to the school in Gurye County from Seoul. It's a rare treat for these kids who are from the country's biggest city where "camping" sounds like a rather distant notion. But out here, it's one of many outdoor activities arranged by the school for its 40 students.

Earlier that week, all fifth and sixth graders of the school, 16 in total ― except two who were unable to take part due to their health conditions ― climbed Mount Jiri up to Cheonwangbong Peak some 1,910 meters high. With the school at its foot, the mountain, together with Seomjin River that flows nearby, provides excellent sites for the school's various outdoor programs. All the kids returned safely from the one-night trekking activity accompanied by two teachers.

Apart from in-class lessons ― the school curriculum includes Korean, English, math, ethics, sociology, science, music and art ― the school offers paragliding, inline skating, environment studies, cycling, horse riding and mountain treks. Academic lessons and creative learning, where students learn a certain outdoor activity throughout the year, constitute two major pillars of the school's program.

Fifth and sixth graders of Jungdong Elementary School and teachers pose at Cheonwangbong Peak on Mount Jiri, Oct. 19. Courtesy of Jungdong Elementary School

First and second, third and fourth and fifth and sixth graders usually pair up together for each outdoor program because their numbers often fall short. The school orchestra, however, is joined by the entire student body. From time to time, they go out to perform on the streets of Sandong Township, where the school is located.

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"I believe the six graders are giving a presentation right now," Yoon Mi-suk, the school principal, told The Korea Times. "They depart for Gyeongju next month on a school trip to visit and learn about the national heritage located there. Rather than a history teacher lecturing them about what they'll see there, we encouraged each of the students to choose a certain important piece of heritage, research it and share with the class what they learned. That way, they will better understand what they are observing when they actually get there."

Ten students, each sitting behind a desktop computer, are fixated upon a laser projector screen in the class while a long-haired girl in a sweatshirt and blue jeans gives a presentation about a famous Buddhist stone tower inside Bulguksa Temple. When she ended the presentation and asked the class a short-answer question based on what she just presented, several of her peers eagerly raised their arms even though there were no rewards. After lots of giggling and watching how well their peers prepped themselves for the presentation day, the teacher dismissed the class past 3 p.m.

Third and fourth graders of Jungdong Elementary School learn how to ride a bicycle near Seomjin River, Oct. 11. Courtesy of Jungdong Elementary School

More natural life away from Seoul

The students from Seoul live with their parents in a rented home in Gurye. In most cases, one parent stays in Seoul to make a regular living while the other comes down here, according to Yoon. Every week or two, the children and parents go to Seoul and return during the weekend.

Country life was hard for most of the parents at first, according to the principal. They needed jobs or other means to make a living or keep themselves busy while their children were at school. They gradually settled in. Many of them found jobs at a large-scale local organic food manufacturing factory called Natural Dream Park. The others opted to take courses using their individual skills, making traditional "pyebaek" handcrafts for newlywed couples or offering the school some help with making video materials for school administration. One of the parents who used to write professionally English learning study materials for print started writing books about life in Gurye.

"I talk to the parents a lot, about how they are faring with life down here," said Yoon. "And they all seem to have found ways to appreciate and enjoy a slow life surrounded by nature, although some of them had trouble getting used to the bugs. There are lots of snakes here, too. But many of them really like it down here."

Before the school applied to the Live and Study in the Countryside program co-hosted by the Education Offices of Seoul and that of South Jeolla as an education provider in 2021, the entire number of students in the school was just 19. They were on the verge of canceling classes and putting two grades in one class, which Yoon, who volunteered to serve as the school principal in 2019, saw as a last resort. As the school needed a new source of students to expand its enrollment pool, she decided to accept students from Seoul.

Jungdong Elementary School Principal Yoon Mi-suk coordinates the Live and Study in the Countryside program for students from Seoul with 20 members of the faculty. Courtesy of Jungdong Elementary School

The timing couldn't have been better for Yoon because in 2020, COVID-19 forced schools in Seoul and other cities in the country to transition most of their in-person classes online so as to minimize the risks of in-class infection. Of course, many parents grew tired of watching their children learn lessons via a computer screen at home every day. So many sought to move outside of the cities, in the hopes that things could change for the better for their children. Some of them came across Jungdong Elementary School and liked what the school promoted for those coming from Seoul, and so applied to the program.

The newcomers first started with just a six-month experience program to see if they could adjust to the new life there. After that, they could extend their enrollment for another six months or go back to Seoul. As of October this year, among the 10 students who came from Seoul in March 2021, eight are still here after a year and half, even though they stopped receiving the government subsidy after the first full year.

"I often heard the students from Seoul say that they don't want to go back to the city because they cannot breathe up there ― things I never imagined before that they would say," said Yoon. "I give them a 10-minute break between classes instead of five as usually allowed by schools in cities. That extra time makes them so happy. I just want them to have as much fun and enjoy themselves at the school surrounded by nature."