Kyobo Life builds Korean language school in Indonesia

Kyobo Life Insurance Co., a South Korean life insurer, said on Thursday it has established the Cia-Cia Hangeul School on Buton Island, Indonesia, in partnership with the Korea Cia-Cia Cultural Exchange Association.

The Cia-Cia are one of Indonesia’s 350 minorities who in 2009 officially chose to use the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, to preserve its fading language. The Cia-Cia local language, also known as Butonese, does not have its own writing system. They use Hangeul to mimic the pronunciation of Butonese in their written communication.

The newly built Cia-Cia Hangeul School is a two-story building with a gross floor area of 465 square meters. It consists of classrooms, conference rooms and accommodation for Korean language teachers.

It will provide systematic Korean language education to its students, according to Kyobo Life. In addition to operating a training course for local Korean language teachers, various cultural exchange activities such as Korean cooking lessons are planned to be given.

Kyobo Life has been supporting various social contribution activities for the Cia-Cia since last year. Currently, Kyobo Life provides taekwondo lessons and Korean language lessons to 500 Cia-Cia students at schools in Bau-Bau City and Buton Island.

“We are happy to support the Korean language education and promote Korean culture to the Cia-Cia. We will do our best to help the students of the Cia-Cia tribe grow into mature adults with the education,” said a Kyobo Life official.

By Lee Yoon-Seo (yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)