Children from families of diverse cultural backgrounds totaled 67,806 in number as of last April, who accounted for 1.07 percent of the total 6,333,617 students attending primary, middle and high schools, compared with 0.70 percent in 2012 and 0.86 percent in 2013, according to the report submitted to Rep. Youn Kwan-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party.
The figure represents an increase of 21.6 percent or 12,026 from a year earlier. In contrast, the number of schoolchildren in the country has decreased in recent years.
By region, Gyeonggi Province topped the list with 23.6 percent or 16,013 of the students from multicultural families, followed by Seoul (14.7 percent or 10,021), South Jeolla Province (7.4 percent or 5,023), South Gyeongsang Province (7.0 percent or 4,754) and South Chungcheong Province (6.3 percent or 4,292), the report said.
Primary schoolchildren constituted 71.2 percent of the children of multicultural families, while those attending middle and high schools accounted for 18.5 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively.
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