With South Korea's population ageing rapidly and families migrating from the countryside to the cities for decades, rural primary schools are facing falling pupil numbers. Even as late as the 1960s, some South Korean girls did not to go to school, especially in the countryside. "I always regretted I couldn't set foot in school as a young girl," she said. At the same time South Korea is facing a demographic crisis with young people choosing not to reproduce in an ultra-competitive society with a stagnant job market. "South Korea is experiencing an ageing process at an unprecedented pace," said Cho Sung-ho of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, adding it was "struggling to adapt to the declining trend".

Source: Bangkok Post May 31, 2019 05:37 UTC