Less students...Jeju Eup and Myeon High School Buses Suspended One after another

[Anchor]
Recently, as the number of students in towns and villages in Jeju Island has decreased, high school bus service has been suspended one after another.

The schools are appealing for improvement, saying the authorities' standards for support are far from reality.

KCTV Jeju Broadcasting Kim Junghoon Lee reports.

[Reporter]
It is Aewol High School in Jeju City.

As it's school time, students head to the bus stop to catch the bus.

The school ran a school bus for students who came and went from a long distance until October last year.

However, it has been suspended this year.

This is because the burden on parents has increased as the number of students used has decreased compared to the new semester.

I couldn't even get support for the rental fee for the school bus operation from the Jeju Provincial Office of Education.

The Jeju education authorities proposed 40 people per bus to support the rental cost of school buses.

However, the number of students applying for school buses was 26, which was less than the standard for supporting rental expenses.

The number of applicants was lowered to 35 by requesting the relaxation of the application standards, citing the lack of students in the eup and myeon local schools, but the decision was made to suspend the operation as the number of applicants did not increase by around 20.

The school believes that resolving school inconvenience is the top priority to revitalize schools in the eup and myeon areas amid concerns about students' concentration in the area due to the reorganization of the Jeju high school system.

In particular, it is said that schools in Dong and Eup and Myeon areas, where demand for school buses is high, need to prepare flexible standards tailored to school characteristics rather than the same standards.

[Choo Kyo-hyung / Jeju Aewol High School Vice-principal: In that regard, if the provincial office of education is to ease standards and strengthen support, the office of education is trying to reform the high school system, but I think high schools in Eup and Myeon areas will help improve their academic background.]

High schools in towns and villages, which are on the verge of extinction due to a decrease in new students every year, are repeating the vicious cycle of school bus service suspension based on support standards far from reality.

This is a KCTV news Junghoon Lee.


Photographer: Kim Seung-cheol