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According to a recent study, South Korea has the lowest proportion of children among the 37 countries with populations larger than 40 million. Only 10.6% of the population accounts for children. While the country reported its first rise in birth rates following an almost entire decade of shrinkage, the consequences of these numbers are particularly felt in the rural regions, where the lack of school-aged children threatens the existence of elementary schools. To counter this, a novel idea arose among officials—enrolling senior citizens who wanted to learn to read and write but never had the chance.
“We went around villages looking for just one precious kid to enroll as a first grader,” Lee Ju-young, the principal of Daegu Elementary in Gangjin County, told The New York Times. “There was none.” Instead, eight women aged between 56 and 80 took the chance with the blessing from the local education office, and more showed interest in joining later. Meanwhile, Bangrim Primary School in the province of Gangwon sees grandmas and their grandchildren studying in the same building.
While many children may be reluctant to go to school at first, for the grandmothers it was an opportunity too good to pass. “I couldn’t believe this was actually happening to me,” said 70-year-old Hwang Wol-geum, who enrolled in the first grade. “Carrying a school bag has always been my dream.” As for 72-year-old Park Go-ee, she's happy to get her first chance at an education in all her life. “Learning Korean letters is good, so I can read things around me,” she told Al Jazeera. Due to the strict patriarchal views of Korean society, many of these women were denied a chance to study when they were young.
As for the teachers, they share that they have to be patient, as the older students learn more slowly than their younger classmates. “Of course they are much older than I am, but I am their teacher … So although I respect their age, that does not deter me from disciplining the grandmas,” says Bangrim’s second grade teacher, Park Joon-mi. “They are eager to learn,” shares Ms. Jo, the first-grade teacher at Daegu Elementary. “They are probably the only students here asking for more homework.”
And it's not just the grandmothers who are benefiting. By keeping the schools running, they ensure the future of their town. This is particularly important should people who relocated to the cities in search of better opportunities want to move back with their families. “Who would start a family here if there were no school?” says Noh Soon-ah, Ms. Hwang’s daughter-in-law who settled there five years ago. “Children are what brings laughter and vitality to a town.”
However, the dignity and pride that education has brought to these women alone is worth the effort. “I don’t have to ask the bus driver where the bus is going to. Now I just read the sign and know where it goes. So it’s very convenient,” 65-year-old Park Kyung-soon says. For others, like Hwang, their new abilities are opening doors long thought closed. “I am going to run for president of the village women’s society. People used to ask me to run, but I always declined. It’s a job for someone who can read and write.”
Elementary schools in rural South Korea that were in danger of closing due to the lack of school-age children have been saved by a new type of pupil—grandmothers who never got to learn to read and write.
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And it's not just the grandmothers who are benefiting. By keeping the schools running, they ensure the future of their town.
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The dignity and pride that access to an education has brought these women alone is worth the effort.
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Learn more about this project in the video below.
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Sources: [Graphic News] South Korea has fewest children among major nations; How did South Korea start producing more babies after long decline?; Running Out of Children, a South Korea School Enrolls Illiterate Grandmothers; The grandmas saving South Korea’s schools
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