朝鮮總督府對於殖民地朝鮮的初等學校教育，採用日本向來在殖民地中前所未見的日本人與朝鮮人之分別就學制度。這種隔離不僅只是學校校舍的不同而已，就連用在學校的各種經費，也是日本人與朝鮮人各自負擔所需。此一情形可說是自1876年開放通商以降，在朝鮮各地設立的居留民團與日本人會等團體，為了日本人孩童而從事學校教育的結果。 　　因此，相較於日本國內的初等學校教育，乃是由末端的一般地方團體之市町村加以進行，殖民地朝鮮則是在府、郡、島的層級設置學校組合與學校費，作為一種擬制的特別地方團體，使之負責初等學校教育。而當初等學校教育的事務和事業，與一般地方團體的行政分開進行時，朝鮮人孩童的大多數在初等學校教育中往往受到了忽視。

In administering Korean elementary education, the Chosen Government-general (Chosen sotokufu, established in 1910) followed a unique colonial policy by segregat- ing Korean school children from Japanese school children. Under such a segregation policy, Japanese and Korean pupils had separate classrooms, and the education budgets were also funded separately. In other words, Japanese and Koreans provided for the education of their children with their own respective resources. Such a prac- tice started in 1876 when Japanese merchants first came to reside in Korea. The then Japanese Colony Councils in Chosen/Korea, including Kyoryumindan and Nihonjin- kai, raised their own funds to provide education for Japanese school children through- out Korea. This kind of unique education system was not to be seen in Taiwan, Sa- khalin or Manchuria. Japanese School Councils (Gakkokumiai) were composed of Japanese residents who managed their schools autonomously and provided faculty, books, and other essential services for their elementary pupils. On the other hand, the School Funds (Gakkohi) were composed of native Koreans, who administered and provided gener- ally poor services for the Korean children until the end of the Japanese colonial rule. A substantial number of Korean children missed elementary school education due primarily to the insufficient funds and also because of the lack of autonomy. Constant interferences by such special local authorities as cites (fu), towns (yu) and villages (men) tended to weaken the effectiveness of general education.

朝鮮總督府;居留民團;學校組合;學校費;內地人;朝鮮人

the Government-general of Chosen; elementary school education; the Japanese Colony Council; the special local authorities.