More than 80 middle and high schools have applied to use controversial state-authored history textbooks as supplementary materials in the new academic year, the education ministry said Monday.The textbooks will be distributed to 33 middle schools, 49 high schools and one specialized school this month to be used as supplementary or reference material in and outside of the classroom, according to the ministry. The government also plans to send the texts to 28 state schools and 22 Korean schools ov

Kim Dae-kyun experiments with AfreecaTV and social media to rebrand himself

A group of parents of high school students is set to file a suit Thursday demanding the cancellation of the school's adoption of controversial state-authored history textbooks.Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, 331 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was designated by the government in February as the only school to use the textbooks in the new academic year starting this month.Students and parents hold up signs at Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, 331 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 2, 20

Dozens of students and parents rallied at a high school in this southeastern city Tuesday for two consecutive days in protest against its adoption of state-authored history textbooks.Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, 331 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was designated by the government as the only institution to test the controversial textbooks which were rejected by all other schools amid controversy over the authors' alleged rightist interpretation of events in the nation's modern history.Stud

The Ministry of Education said Monday that a trial of the controversial state-authored history textbook will be conducted at only one school. The school -- Munmyeong High School in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province -- is among three that applied for the pilot program, which the ministry sought to promote with cash subsidies. Of the two other schools that signed up for it, Osan High School withdrew its application amid fierce opposition from its students and staff. The other, Gyeongbuk Aviatio

Most of this year’s high school graduates will choose to further their education, but Kim Sung-woo has decided to take a different path. Instead of enrolling in a university, the Steve Jobs wannabe chose to work full-time at a local software developer, hoping to kick-start his career as an IT professional. Apprentices at Yongsan Technical High School in Seoul train how to make SoC, an integrated circuit that combines components of computers or other electronic systems. (Shin Dong-yoon)“I’ve alre

Soon-to-be first-graders master reading, writing and simple math to get a head start in school

Dwight School Seoul will be hosting its fifth annual VIP Reading Day to promote the diversity of languages. Scheduled to take place at the international school’s campus in western Seoul on Tuesday, the event aims to promote linguistic and cultural diversity as well as multilingualism.  Wendy Seay, an information system officer at the US Embassy in Seoul, poses with two fifth-grade students at Dwight School Seoul. Dwight School Seoul“Our mission is to support UNESCO’s International Mother Languag

Most schools across the nation appeared Wednesday to have rejected a set of controversial state-authored history textbooks advocated by impeached President Park Geun-hye.The textbooks for middle and high school students were unveiled by the government last month to correct what it said was a left-leaning, pro-North Korea bias in existing history textbooks made by private publishers.This image taken from Yonhap News TV shows three state-authored history textbooks. (Yonhap)Liberals denounced the n

Randosel backpacks (Yonhap)Top luxury brands popular with adults are also grabbing the market for children, their sales increasing as kids get ready to go back to school this month or next, industry officials said Monday.Some of the most popular items cost well over 1 million won ($867). A Gucci-labeled backpack for children is tagged at 1.12 million won, and a lunch box at 975,000 won."Customers looking for back-to-school supplies like backpacks are increasing in number by the year," brand mana

Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7, will open a master's course on the Korean independence movement history later this year, the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan said Thursday. "(The IHK) and visiting Marie-Orange Rive-Lasan, a professor of the Oriental Literature Department, have agreed on the opening of the provisionally named "History of Korean Independence Movement"course as part of the regular curriculum of the Korean studies in Paris 7 starting in the fall semester that b

South Korea’s Ministry of Education will conduct a study of gifted students following their academic and career path for 25 years after their graduation from state-run special education programs, it said Wednesday. The subjects of the survey -- the first of its kind here -- are 15-year-olds or 16-year-olds who enter eight science high schools here this year. The study will run through 2041 until they reach 40 or 41. “We have analyzed short-term data on the effect of special education for talente

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is holding a two-day conference in Daejeon, in the center of South Korea, to provide support and assistance programs for potential startups, the top science university in the country said. The conference, entitled “2017 JETS (Job, Exhibition, Tech-Forum, Startup),” set for Thursday and Friday, is expected to lay the foundation for young entrepreneurs who wish to establish their own businesses, amid the growing importance of startups for the

The call went out: “Abandon ship! Abandon ship!”As sirens wailed and speakers gave orders for all passengers to go up on deck after the stranded ship began to roll from side to side, a group of 6-year-old children calmly unbuckled their seat belts and took hold of their bright orange life vests. One of them had teary eyes, but soon stood up to escape. Fortunately it was all just a drill.“Follow the adults. Do not put on your vest yet, just drag it until we are on deck, all right?” an instructor

Foreign publishers have increased coverage of South Korea in textbooks, with more of them marking maps with the Korean name for the sea between Korea and Japan, Seoul's education ministry said Tuesday.The increase was reported during a meeting of a public-private panel tasked with correcting errors and broadening coverage related to Korea. Vice Education Minister Lee Young presided over the meeting with officials from the foreign ministry, fisheries ministry and civic group VANK in attendance."I