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| Minister of Gender Equality and Family Chung Young-ai speaks during a briefing on support measures for students from multicultural backgrounds, held at the Government Complex Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Ministry of Gender Equality and Family |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Korea will strengthen support for students from multicultural backgrounds, in order to establish an environment where all children are provided with equitable access to education and career development.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced a set of measures on Friday to increase educational support for students from multicultural backgrounds, as well as to create a learning environment that embraces diversity and inclusion.
The measures come as the number of multicultural students has been increasing steadily, despite the overall declining student population due to the nation's low birth rate.
In 2021, about 5.32 million students were enrolled at elementary, middle and high schools across the country, down 21 percent from 6.72 million in 2012.
During the same period, however, the number of multicultural students surged by 240 percent to surpass 160,000 in 2021, up from around 47,000 in 2012.
This tally included children born to a Korean national and a foreign national (82 percent), as well as children born to two foreign national parents (18 percent).
However, government policies are currently focused on supporting multicultural children only at the preschool level, leaving older students deprived of opportunities to access quality education and career planning.
Data showed that only 49 percent of these students had entered university in 2018, lower than the 67.6 percent of the total student population doing so.
Against this backdrop, the family ministry, which oversees the country's multicultural youth policies, will implement new measures centered on supporting students at schools to help them explore various career paths.
Beginning next month, the government will provide career counseling programs at 78 multicultural family support centers across the country and enhance existing government programs supporting the students' bilingual skills.
In addition, starting next month, children between ages 6 and 10 will be offered educational programs on basic reading and writing skills at the lower elementary level.
The courses, available at 90 multicultural family support centers across the country, should reach some 1,800 children of the age group, said the ministry.
The family ministry will also make revisions to the Multicultural Family Support Act, so as to expand the legal definition of "members of multicultural families" to include children who are currently in welfare blind spots due to their or their parents' legal status.
The authorities will also increase efforts to eradicate racial and cultural discrimination at schools.
A triennial survey among multicultural families conducted in 2018 found that children from multicultural backgrounds face difficulties adapting to school life due to multiple reasons, including language barriers, academic struggles and discrimination from peers as well as teachers.
The ministry will continue to develop cultural diversity education programs at schools. Since 2015, schools have been recommended to include at least two hours of multicultural education per year.
In cooperation with the education ministry, school teachers will be offered the possibility to participate in workshops and online training programs about multicultural education.
"We have come up with these measures to support multicultural youth adapting to school life and developing their global talents, so that they can grow up as future talented members of our society," Gender Equality and Family Minister Chung Young-ai said during a briefing.
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