An illustration shows statistics on students leaving school and regional trends in South Korea. ChatGPT-generated image and translated by UPI
June 7 (Asia Today) -- More than 10,000 first-year students at South Korean general high schools left school before completing their first year for the first time, as more students appear to be turning to equivalency exams and the national college entrance test instead of competing under the school grading system.
According to an analysis by Jongno Academy of school disclosure data from School Info, 18,661 students at 1,703 general high schools nationwide stopped attending school last year. The figure was up 163, or 0.9%, from 18,498 a year earlier and was the highest level in the past seven years.
The category includes voluntary withdrawal, expulsion and removal from school rolls, though most cases are believed to involve students voluntarily leaving school.
By grade level, first-year high school students accounted for 10,450 cases, or 56.0% of the total. Second-year students accounted for 7,346 cases, or 39.4%, while third-year students accounted for 865 cases, or 4.6%.
