Seoul City halts plans for foreign school in Gangnam

Seoul City put a brake on a plan to build a foreign school in Gaepo, southern Seoul, due to decreased demand and a possible oversupply of foreign schools.

The city government had a project to build three foreign schools since 2008 to increase the city’s global competence by providing a better educational environment to children of foreign businesspeople and attracting more investment in the city.

The city government currently runs two foreign schools, Dulwich College Seoul in Banpo, southern Seoul, and Dwight School Seoul in Mapo, northwest Seoul, which opened in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

Every class is taught in English at the schools.

“The city decided to stop proceeding with the plan after reviewing its viability by having interviews with foreign parents and researching demand,” said the city in a press release.

There are 13 English-language international schools in the city and nine non-English international schools, according to a city government official.

The admission quotas of all English schools in Seoul increased 32 percent from 2007 to 2012 to 6,982 while those English-speaking children aged 5 to 19 eligible to be admitted to foreign schools decreased 71 percent to 1,785

Koreans who lived abroad for three years or more are eligible to the admission and currently 1,068 Korean nationals go to foreign schools in the city.

“The city will improve the quality of education at the existing foreign schools by adopting international standards such as the Advanced Placement program and International Baccalaureate,” said Choi Dong-yun, assistant mayor for Economic Planning, promising a better educational environment with remodeled school facilities.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)