By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Students will learn about the new family registration system, copyright laws and climate change at schools starting next year, following the release of a new syllabus about new systems and changes in society.

The educational authority said Tuesday that it would soon provide the syllabus on nine issues to elementary, middle and high schools and regional educational offices nationwide to complement current textbooks.

``We designed the material so that students can learn changing systems of the state and new trends in society,'' an official at the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development said.

Firstly, the curriculum will introduce the new family registration system. The revised Civil Law, which will take effect from Jan. 1, will abolish the current ``hojuje,'' a patriarchal family registration system, and replace it with a more gender-equal one.

``Hojuje'' stipulates that all family members must be registered under ``hoju,'' which refers to a male family head. Now people will have their own individual registration, in which their parents, spouses and children will be registered.

The new law will also allow a child to adopt his or her mother's family name based on mutual consent from both parents. So far, children took only the father's family name. Also, if a woman remarries, her children can take their stepfather's surname with the court's approval, while so far they have had to keep their birthfather's one.

Amid rampant copyright violation on the Internet, the teaching material also includes information about copyright, as many Internet users copy others' writings and pictures and post them on their blogs without the author's permission.

Students will learn several examples of copyright violation which young people often commit without knowing it is illegal. Upcoming changes of the copyright system following the free trade agreement with the United States will also be introduced.

Environmental issues such as global warming, alternative energy and climate change will also be included in the teaching material, along with some ways to save the earth which students can easily put into practice.

Other issues include the new address system based on street names which will replace the land-lot number-based one; policies for foreign residents; and nano technology.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr