Few Koreans could deny that building a harmonious multicultural society has become a crucial task for enabling their country to keep economic growth and social viability.
In June, Korea became the world’s seventh nation with a population of more than 50 million, whose per capital income exceeds $20,000. The celebratory mood, however, was overshadowed by a somber demographic projection that the low fertility rate would reduce the number of working-age people by more than 7 million over the coming three decades and by another 7 million in the following 20 years.
This circumstance will draw more attention to the roles of an increasing number of expatriates here in maintaining the country’s growth momentum. In this sense, it has become a must, not a choice, for Koreans to establish multiculturalism in their traditionally homogenous society.
Continuous efforts need to be made to work out and implement comprehensive measures to achieve a multicultural society. What is likely to be ― but should not be ― neglected in such endeavors is educating children from multicultural families so they can grow to be good citizens.
From a long-term perspective, their successful education will help consolidate the basis for a multicultural society and prevent a problem that could have potentially grave consequences on social stability.
But as shown in the high rates of multicultural students dropping out of the regular education course, policies for them remain far from being thorough and efficient.
The number of elementary and secondary school students from multicultural families here jumped five-fold over the past six years to 46,954 this year, accounting for 0.7 percent of the total school children, according to statistics from the Education Ministry. If the current pace continues, their number is estimated to exceed 70,000 by 2014, taking up more than 1 percent of the students attending primary, middle and high schools across the country.
The number of children from international marriages reaching the school age of seven, which remained at slightly less than 8,000 this year, is set to increase to 8,844 in 2013, 15,584 in 2015 and 17,304 in 2017.
Most of multicultural students are from marriages between Korean men in rural areas and women from China and Southeast Asian countries. The number of Korean men marrying foreign women peaked at 30,719 in 2005 before sliding to 29,665 in 2006, 26,274 in 2010 and 22,265 last year, according to figures from Statistics Korea. There are more than 150,000 children from about 250,000 multicultural couples.
Many multicultural students are often at disadvantage in keeping up with school lessons. Most Southeast Asian mothers do not speak Korean fluently, which means that their children are likely to be slower in learning Korean and have difficulty studying other subjects. At an elementary school in the vicinity of Seoul, 42 of 51 slow learners are from multicultural homes.
Often from low-income families, they can be put in more dire conditions when their parents get divorced. The number of divorced multicultural couples increased from 12,430 in 2008 to 14,319 in 2010.
Various measures should be devised and implemented consistently to help them better adapt to school. It can be instrumental to run more preliminary courses to teach them the Korean language and culture for a certain period before they start regular schooling. Efforts are also needed to teach native Korean students not to discriminate against multicultural children because of different skin colors and cultural backgrounds.
The focus of educating multicultural students needs not necessarily focus on making them assimilated into Korean society but helping them grow to be citizens who can play a proper social role without being confused about their identity. It would be ideal for them to take pride in their Korean nationality and affection for their other cultural heritage. When grown up, they could also serve as a bridge between the homelands of their father and mother.
A secure life should be guaranteed for multicultural students by educating and encouraging them to join in creating a prosperous future for the country.
