School Trips and Retreats Vanishing? Seoul and Gyeonggi See Huge Drops as “Outside the Classroom” is Deemed Too Risky

Learning outside the classroom comes in many forms, from field trips and sports days to overnight school trips. Recently, reports have highlighted that these activities are shrinking. Even President Lee Jae-myung criticized the trend during a cabinet meeting, questioning if students are being robbed of great opportunities.

What is the actual situation in schools? According to data from the Ministry of Education, only 2,868 out of 5,968 elementary schools nationwide (excluding Chungbuk) held retreats or school trips last year, which is less than half (about 48%). The rates varied wildly by region. While most areas recorded over 60%, Seoul and Gyeonggi elementary schools were in the single digits at 7% and 9%, respectively, while Incheon was only around 13%.

Sports activities show a similar trend. According to the Ministry of Education, as of the 8th, 104 elementary schools completely ban soccer and baseball, and 22 schools ban one of the two. Seoul had 72 schools and Gyeonggi had 30, significantly higher than Busan (5 schools) and Daegu (4 schools). In the Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi areas, 40 schools have restricted students from using the playground entirely.

Factors blocking these learning opportunities include the heavy burden of responsibility placed on individual teachers or schools when accidents occur. Some point out that excessive complaints from certain parents are discouraging teachers from organizing field trips. Other factors include economic reasons and a growing belief that school sports and experiential learning are useless due to the expansion of private education.

Tonight (12th) at 11:20 PM, MBC’s [100 Minute Debate] will air with the theme “Outside the Classroom is Dangerous… What is the Solution?”. The panel will include Jang Hong-jae from the Ministry of Education’s School Policy Office, Park Young-hwan, chairman of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, Kang Young-mi, president of the Parents’ Association for True Education, and Moon Seong-ho, editor-in-chief of the youth-led media ‘Tokkipul’.