Education during disasters–Natural disasters and school enrollment during the Colonial Period

Kihoon Lee

During the colonial years in Joseon, with agriculture being the most basic activity among the people, natural disasters had a large impact on school education. While flood related disasters affected limited areas, the impact of disasters caused by droughts was far-reaching. It even affected children and their school education nation wide. It’s impact peaked in the 1920s, when the enrollment rate of boys was recorded around 7-20%. But in the 1930s, elementary school education became an integral part of life. And despite repeated natural disasters over the years, numbers of school enrollment increased, while that of drop-outs and days of missed schools declined, indicating elementary education was further expanded and became more essential in life. Despite the great drought of 1939, school education continued to expand. This could be in part due to the Japanese Government General of Korea’s plan to make effective use of the human resources of Joseon. But it is also true that the people of Joseon yearned for more education. Education and learning thrived, not because natural disasters subsided, but because for most people, primary education became essential for survival. However, more education did not resolve the hardships of living. To the contrary, education became a burden to the households: an issue demonstrated by the increases in asset seizures from not being able to pay for the school tuition of children. Graduating from a primary school did not guarantee any benefits, but was considered essential, and thus put a heavy burden on the farmers. Children from poor farming families often missed schools, because their tuition was not paid. Increase of school absence rates in 1938∼1939, when natural disasters and conscription to war coincided, clearly illustrates this fact.

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* 2021년 이후 발행 논문의 참고문헌은 현재 구축 중입니다.

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