As multicultural students surge, Korea's classrooms change

Social Affairs

Published: 07 Nov. 2023, 19:25 Updated: 07 Nov. 2023, 19:44

As multicultural students surge, Korea's classrooms change

Multicultural students' names are attached on the shelves storing indoor school sneakers at Bongmyong Elementary School in Cheongju, North Chungcheong. Their names usually have four to five syllables while Korean students' names have three syllables. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Sixteen pairs of indoor slippers were lined neatly in the shoe rack in front of the classroom at Bongmyeong Elementary School in Cheongju, North Chungcheong.

Written on the back of each pair of white shoes was the wearer's name. Half were typically Korean three-syllable names.

The rest had longer names of four or five syllables.

Of Bongmyeong Elementary School's 538 students, 288 — or 53.5 percent — come from multicultural families. Bongmyeong-dong is home to many ethnic Koreans from the former Soviet Union who work in nearby small factories and construction sites.

When this writer visited a first-grade class in August, she heard Korean and Russian used simultaneously. When the teacher asked students about their favorite food, some answered with typical Korean dishes like seaweed soup, or miyeokguk, but others said “soup” in Russian.

“To communicate with the students, I'm studying Russian on my own,” said the teacher, who came to the school two years ago. She sometimes uses a translation app to talk with her students, too.

Bongmyeong Elementary School is not alone in this regard.

Localities with the highest ratio of multicultural elementary school students [MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, LEE TAE-KYU]

Multicultural students made up 10 percent or more of elementary school students in 56 of Korea's 229 cities, counties and metropolitan districts, according to government statistics and information provided by the office of People Power Party Rep. Lee Tae-kyu office.

The number of elementary students from multicultural families has grown from 68,000 in 2014 to 181,000 this year, climbing from 1.1 percent to 3.5 percent.

That figure will likely grow, with Statistics Korea projecting the population with migrant backgrounds to grow from 2.18 million in 2020 to 3.22 million in 2040, climbing from 4.2 percent to 6.4 percent.

The region with the highest percentage of multicultural students was Hampyeong County, South Jeolla, where 20.5 percent of the elementary students came from multicultural families.

Yeongyang County in North Gyeongsang followed with 20.2 percent, Sinan County in South Jeolla with 20 percent, Imsil County in North Jeolla with 19.5 percent and Yeongam in South Jeolla with 19.3 percent.

All of these jurisdictions are farming and fishing communities with little population influx.

In these areas, more and more children are born to mothers who migrated to Korea to marry Korean men, leading to rising percentages of multicultural students as native Korean birthrates decline.

President Yoon Suk Yeol talks with a multicultural student taking Korean language learning course at Suwon Elementary School in Gyeonggi on July 3. [NEWS1]

Multicultural students comprise less than one percent of elementary school classes in just three localities — Gangnam and Seocho districts in Seoul and Gwacheon in Gyeonggi.

Even in metropolitan areas, certain districts are home to concentrations of multicultural students. Nearly one-third of multicultural elementary school students in Seoul live in Geumcheon (12.6 percent), Guro (9.4 percent) and Yeongdeungpo districts (8.8 percent).

The industrial city of Ansan has the largest percentage of multicultural students in Gyeonggi, at 15.2 percent.

“Chinese laborers working in the industrial complex that stretches across Guro and Geumcheon districts have settled in those areas, creating their own community,” an official from Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said.

“A Vietnamese community recently formed in Gwangjin District, with the number of multicultural students from the country in question rising.”

Nations of origin vary from region to region. In the greater Seoul area, including Incheon and Gyeonggi, students with Chinese backgrounds are predominant. In Korea's remaining provinces and metropolitan cities, children with Vietnamese backgrounds account for the lion's share of multicultural students.

“This is because, in rural regions, there are many women who came to Korea to marry Korean men, mostly from Vietnam and the Philippines, while in metropolitan areas, there are many laborers from nearby countries like China,” said Jang Han-up, head of Ewha Women's University’s Multicultural Institute.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho visits a specialized class for multicultural students at the Hanam Jungang Elementary School in Gwangju on May 18. [NEWS1]

Experts called for a paradigm shift in educational policies.

“Rather than assimilation-oriented policies, the authorities must contemplate coexistence,” Jang said.

He said securing teachers capable of teaching multicultural kids is critical. “We need special admission routes to teachers colleges and universities of education that benefit bilingual candidates as future teachers,” Jang said.

Kim Myeong-hee, a researcher at Seoul Education Research and Information Institute, said, “In Seoul, young multicultural students from various national backgrounds are scattered across the city. We need to provide language and psychological support for these overlooked students.”

Some experts suggested that in the long term, educational curricula must be improved.

“Gyeonggi Provincial Government funded the opening of Gunseo Future International School in Siheung, Gyeonggi, an alternative school where students of different nationalities attend, and most courses and curricula are team project-based or presentation-based,” said Han Gyeong-eun, a school inspector at the Gyeonggi Office of Education.

“For multicultural students, the school encouraged students to use easier words and language in class, aiming to reduce educational and linguistic barriers. In the long term, experience-and-discussion-based curricula are needed so that no one is left behind,” Han added.

An official from the Ministry of Education said, “Now is the time to change existing policies to support multicultural children focused on benefits and welfare.”

“The ministry will create scholarship and educational support policies that accept multicultural children as part of our society and cultivate them as potential talent, just like Koreans.”

A recent public opinion survey by the Gyeonggi Office of Education found that 79 percent of respondents agreed on the need for public educational programs to help multicultural kids adapt to Korean society.

BY CHOI MIN-JI, CHANG YOON-SEO, SONG DA-JEONG, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]