A long way to school... Byeong-do Han "9.2% of special school students commute to school for 1 hour each way"

“Long-distance commuting to school is directly linked to the right to study and health… the state must share the burden on families.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Jung-hoon = It was found that 9 out of 100 students attending special schools take more than an hour one way to get to and from school.

As a result of analysis of data submitted by the Ministry of Education on the 7th by Rep. Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, it was found that among 30,917 students attending special schools in 20206, 2,859 (9.2%) had a one-way commute of more than an hour.

The number of students commuting more than one hour one way was 2,738 in 2024, 2,636 in 2025, and 2,859 in 2026, exceeding 2,600 for three consecutive years.

Students’ commuting times also varied greatly between regions. Based on the sum of the last five years from 2022 to 2026, the proportion of students in special schools in provincial areas commuting to school for more than one hour one way was 11.3%, which was about twice that of special and metropolitan cities (5.3%).

By city and province, Gyeongbuk was found to have the highest rate of long-distance commuting to school. In Gyeongbuk, the proportion of students commuting to school for more than 30 minutes one way reached 66.2% this year.

Representative Han said, "Long-distance commuting to school is a problem directly related to students' right to study and health, and the burden is borne by families." He suggested, "For students whose one-way commuting time exceeds a certain standard, we should consider providing customized commuting support such as route adjustments, small vehicles, support for school expenses, and human resources to ride with them."