SEOUL, April 08 (AJU PRESS) - In a bid to help children with at least one parent with immigrant background to quickly adapt to the learning environment, an elementary school in Ansan, a city located southwest of Seoul, will offer Korean language programs every Saturday. Over 90 percent of Ansan Wongok Elementary School's 472 students are children of multicultural backgrounds with at least one parent from another country.
According to data released by the state-run Korean Educational Development Institute, the number of multicultural students in South Korea reached 181,178 in 2023, up 7.4 percent from a year ago. Multicultural children sometimes face challenges in South Korean schools and communities due to racial discrimination or language barriers.
Ansan, with approximately 96,200 foreign residents, is one of the most multicultural cities in South Korea. Ansan's industrial hub "Wongok" is home to a significant population of foreign residents. The Wongok area is renowned for its multicultural food street, which features restaurants offering various cuisines such as Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai.
The Ansan Office of Education said on Monday that three Korean language programs will be offered every Saturday for multicultural students at Ansan Wongok Elementary School. Along with the Korean classes, two Chinese classes and a Russian class will also be available for South Korean students from Korean-speaking families.
"This program is aimed at bridging the gap between students from different cultural backgrounds," a spokesperson from the Ansan Office of Education told Aju Press. He said multicultural students also have the option to learn their parents' languages for bilingual proficiency.
In June 2023, the Ministry of Education revealed its plan to adopt artificial intelligence-based digital textbooks that provide translation services in multiple languages targeting multicultural students. The project will be carried out by a consortium that involves a textbook publisher and education technology (edutech) companies.
