Seoul, the Global Sarang School for a multiethnic education
Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Only 15 students per class, no school fees and multilingual classes, to meet the needs of all children enrolled. Those who have seen it first hand have called it "innovative, multi-ethnic" and on March 2 last it celebrated its first year of activities. This is a private institute, the Global Sarang School, born in Seoul on the initiative of a South Korean Christian community, which is long engaged in efforts to support migrant workers, labourers and the poor living in urban areas. In the local language "Sarang" means love, and the desire to love and meet with others are the guiding principles of a school that serves students who are children of a Korean parent and a parent from the other immigrant groups, mainly from Ghana, China, India, Vietnam and Philippines .
Along with teaching the Korean language, there are afternoon classes in English, Chinese and other mother tongues of students attending the Global Sarang. About 80% of pupils come from mixed families, the remaining 20% have both Korean parents. Since opening in two weeks over 70 children enrolled in the institute, which is made up of eight teachers, computers classes with Internet lessons in Korean, English and native languages, plus a library with more than 20 thousand books. "Our desire - said the president Kim Young-seok - is that the school teaches Koreans to better understand the value and importance of multiculturalism and a pluralistic society."
Among the enthusiastic supporters of the school is also Kim Hae-sung, a Protestant Christian, founder and president of Sarang which has pledged assistance to immigrants. He explains that 60% of children from mixed families attended primary school, but the data drops relentlessly at higher grades: 40% among pupils in junior high and only 30% in high schools. In many cases, says the activist who has a decade of experience in the field, the parents are poor and do not have steady employment, or a residence permit, and therefore can not allow their children study. We do not ask if the parent is illegal or regular, Kim concludes, because the essential point is that these children "are not denied the right to study."
The government statistics show that South Korea is home to over 1.2 million foreign workers and immigrants, of a total of 48 million inhabitants. There are about 300 thousand immigrant children who attend elementary schools and secondary schools in the country. In Seoul alone, in 2010, pupils in primary and secondary counted 5,300, an increase of 31% on last year, bringing the total to 6,837 students.
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