(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Noh Jae-hyeon = While the number of students eligible for special education has increased by nearly 20% in four years, it has been found that there is a shortage of more than 4,600 special education teachers nationwide than the legal placement standard.
In particular, the shortage in the Gyeonggi region reached 1,685 people, and the number of special education teachers who retired without reaching retirement age over the past five years was 3.3 times the number of those who retired.
Kim Moon-soo, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 27th that based on the government audit data received from the Ministry of Education, the number of special teachers assigned to kindergartens, elementary and middle schools nationwide this year is 18,046, and the number of special teachers who do not meet the statutory assignment standards is 4,663 nationwide.
Here, the assigned quota refers to the number of special teachers assigned to public special schools and special classes by the Ministry of Education to provincial and provincial offices of education.
Additionally, the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Special Education Act on Persons with Disabilities, etc.’ stipulates that there should be one special education teacher for every four students.
Looking at the number of special education teachers by region, Gyeonggi has the largest number of special education teachers at 1,685.
After Gyeonggi, the regions with the next shortage of special education teachers are Seoul with 377, Incheon with 360, Gyeongnam with 334, Chungnam with 309, Busan with 224, Gyeongbuk with 234, Jeonbuk with 175, Jeonnam with 170, Gwangju with 122, Ulsan with 106, Jeju with 68, Sejong with 59, Daejeon with 43, and Gangwon with 35. It was counted.
The number of students per special education teacher in elementary schools was found to be 4.3.
In particular, in Busan (4.5), Incheon (4.5), Jeju (4.5), Gyeonggi (4.4), and Daejeon (4.4), there are many students per teacher due to difficulties in securing special education teachers.
Although there is a shortage of special education teachers, the number of early retirements is much higher than retirement age.
According to the Ministry of Education's 'Retirement Status of Special Education Teachers' data, the number of special education teachers who retired mid-term during the five years from April 2021 was 862, which is 3.3 times the number of retirement age (260).
Rep. Kim analyzed that due to the nature of special education, there are many unexpected situations and overcrowded classes have influenced the school dropout.
Moreover, in the case of Jeju, universities do not have special education departments, so it is difficult to find short-term special education teachers.
Rep. Kim emphasized, “Due to a shortage of special education teachers, students’ right to learn is being violated, and the teaching conditions for special teachers are also difficult,” adding, “It is difficult to hire regular teachers due to the decrease in the school-age population, but considering the reality that the number of people eligible for special education is steadily increasing, the number of special education teachers must be increased.”
According to the Ministry of Education's '2026 Special Education Statistics', the total number of people eligible for special education in kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide this year is 124,195, an increase of 3,460 (2.9%) from last year (127,35).
Compared to 2022 (103,695 people), there has been an increase of 20,500 people (19.8%) in 4 years.
