A survey found that eight out of ten Seoul-based elementary school teachers are women. It also reported that some elementary schools have no male teacher.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said yesterday that the number of female teachers stood at 22,414 or 82.3 percent out of 27,219 elementary school teachers last year.
By school, the proportion of female teachers was highest in public elementary schools at 83.4 percent, followed by private elementary schools at 56.4 percent, and national schools at 51.4 percent. The figure has been continuously rising from 80.8 percent in 2004 to 81.6 percent in 2005 and 82.3 percent in 2006.
For example, 18 faculty staff including the principal, vice principal, and teachers in Hangang Elementary School in Yongsan-gu, Seoul are all women. At Daechung Elementary School in Gangnam-gu, all 18 school faculty members are female except the vice principal.
The share of female teachers was highest in kindergartens at 98.3 percent (5063 out of 5153), in middle schools at 66.3 percent (12,780 out of 19,288), and in high schools at 38.9 percent (6628 out of 17,035). Female teachers reached 51 percent (3078 out of 6035) at public schools last year, exceeding the number of male teachers for the first time in history.