KUALA LUMPUR - Schools with high concentrations of students from migrant backgrounds in South Korea have increased 2.6-fold over the past five years, highlighting growing pressure on the education system.

Data submitted by the Ministry of Education to the office of Jin Sun-mee showed the number of such schools rose from 47 in 2020 to 123 in 2025, as reported by The Korea Times. 

The data was provided to Rep. Jin of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Schools are classified as having a high concentration of migrant-background students when more than 100 such students are enrolled and they make up at least 30 per cent of the total student body.

By region, Gyeonggi Province recorded the highest number of these schools with 52, followed by Seoul with 18 schools.

South Chungcheong Province recorded 10 schools, while Daegu had eight and Incheon had seven.

The lowest numbers were reported in Daejeon, Ulsan and North Jeolla Province, each with one school.

The increase has occurred despite the country’s steadily declining school-age population.

The number of students from migrant backgrounds exceeded 200,000 last year, accounting for about 4 per cent of the national student population.

The rise has also placed growing pressure on support programmes designed to assist migrant-background students.

In particular, classes providing Korean language instruction have become increasingly crowded.

The average number of students in Korean language classes rose to 21.5 in 2024, up from 13.8 in 2020.

These classes are intended to help migrant-background students adjust to school life and develop language skills before joining regular classrooms.

The education ministry recommends class sizes of around 10 students.

Rep. Jin said improvements to educational conditions for students from diverse backgrounds are urgently needed.

“It is urgent to ensure that students with migrant backgrounds can access the education they need wherever they reside.

“Education authorities must come up with practical measures to ease school concentration and classroom overcrowding, while expanding the number of teachers and support staff,” she said.