Seoul to dedicate 7 percent of education budget to defectors, low-income students

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will spend 7 percent of its education budget over the next four years to support students from low-income families, young North Korean defectors and mixed-race children, officials said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has earmarked 14.3 trillion won
(US$10.45 billion) to help bridge the growing scholastic gap between urban
students and those from underprivileged backgrounds, they said.
It averages about 3.5 trillion won a year, or approximately 7 percent of the
ministry's budget for next year, 45 trillion won.
The announcement came amid lingering concerns that low-income children, likely to
suffer deeper from the economic downturn, may be sidelined as conservative
President Lee Myung-bak pursues competition-driven pro-market education reform to
enhance students' scholastic ability.
"As the economic crisis is expected to loom for a considerable time, the ministry
realizes that a comprehensive and long-term education support policy is
necessary," Jang Ki-won, a ministry director, said in a press conference.
"Supporting the enhancement of basic scholastic ability is the key policy of the
Lee Myung-bak government in narrowing the educational gap," he said.
Funding for middle school tuition fees will be gradually expanded from the
current 120,000 students to all of the 2 million students by 2012. School meals
will be free for about 1.5 million students from rural regions and urban
low-income families starting next year.
Education officials will also directly reach out to young students from North
Korea, whose adjustment program has been so far covered by the Unification
Ministry. They will develop academic and counseling programs to help them catch
up with South Korean school curriculum and expand funding for alternative
schools. Regulations on opening alternative schools for defectors will be eased.
"While their number has continued to increase, adjustment problems in school and
society are largely still there because they still feel social and cultural
differences here and they had an educational vacuum before coming here," Jang
said.
The number of North Korean defectors aged six to 20 settling in the South has
jumped to 366 in 2007 from 60 in 2000. The school dropout rate among the 1,562
young defectors is 12.9 percent, much higher than 1 percent on average among
South Korean students.
The government will also develop language and tutoring programs for students from
mixed-race families, whose number has shot up to 21,171 this year from 9,389 in
2006 with more marriages between Korean men and Southeast Asian women.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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