"Harder Than Entering Seoul National University"... The Admissions War for Special Schools

[Anchor]

Competition to enter special-needs schools is so fierce that people say, "It's harder to get in than Seoul National University."

While the number of eligible students has more than doubled, the number of schools remains severely lacking, forcing entire families to wander across the country. Park Soo-jin reports.

[Reporter]

Eight-year-old Seonyul has an autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability.

Seonyul's family moved from Seoul to Gangwon Province in November of last year to find a special-needs school for him to enter.

[Shin Young-in / Mother of a child with autism spectrum disorder: Since Seonyul cannot speak for himself, I thought he needed to study in a specialized environment.]

There were no schools available for enrollment in the neighborhood where Seonyul used to live, and nearby schools had extremely high competition rates.

[Shin Young-in / Mother of a child with autism spectrum disorder: Someone told me. Going to a special-needs school is harder than getting into Seoul National University.]

It is not uncommon for parents to sign housing contracts without even viewing the properties just to submit their applications.

[Parent who migrated to Jeju Island: Applications closed the next day, and I only found out about it the day before. Without visiting the house, I just contacted a real estate agent and made a preliminary contract.]

Over the past 20 years, the student population has decreased by about 36%, but the number of students requiring special education has more than doubled.

Although children can receive education in special classes or regular classes within regular schools, children who desperately need special-needs schools due to severe disabilities are pushed down the waiting list due to a shortage of schools.

[Parent applying to a special-needs school in Gyeonggi Province: They said the competition rate was low this year at around 5-something to 1, and that it was much higher than that before.]

Siha's mother, who has a son with a severe physical disability, even submitted an appeal to the Office of Education while filling out an application for a special-needs school.

[Baek Hye-jin / Mother of a child with physical disabilities: Without a professional educational environment and active support from adults, Siha's day-to-day life is bound to be precarious.]

The current administration promised the establishment of 20 new special-needs schools as a national task, but only 1 was added last year.

Experts advise that rather than building large schools that encompass both elementary, middle, and high school levels, establishing smaller-scale schools fragmented near neighborhoods is a more realistic alternative.

[Kim Ki-ryong / Professor of Secondary Special Education at Joongbu University: You can break down the scale of special-needs schools, making them specialized for elementary school programs only, or middle and high school programs only...]

Ultimately giving up on special-needs schools and picking up applications for regular schools, one parent shared her desperate feelings.

[Mother of a child with autism spectrum disorder: We take the 'age 4 exam' just to go to kindergarten, and the 'age 7 exam' just to go to school. We are just trying to get the learning that is truly necessary...]

(Reporting Producer: Yoon Taek | Design: Choi Ha-neul, Kang Yoon-jung, Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.