Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Education rights of migrants children will be advocated
By Lee Hyo-sik
The government will make it easier for the children of migrant workers to make the best use of the nation’s public school system by providing information on lectures and other school-related matters in multiple mother tongues.
Even if migrant workers are caught by immigration officials for overstaying their visas and other irregularities, their children will still be allowed to finish the school term, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said Monday.
“We are glad to announce that the government has decided to introduce these and other measures we recommended in December last year to better protect the educational rights of children of migrant workers. We will continue to keep an eye on how such steps are implemented,” the commission said.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will set up a Korean language program for students of migrant workers at public schools, as well as provide information on a range of school activities in their first language, it said.
The ministry will also expand an educational program on multiculturalism for Korean students and make more efforts to prevent children of foreign workers from dropping out of school.
The justice ministry plans not to deport illegal aliens until their children finish the relevant semester or academic year. It also said teachers and other government workers will no longer be required to notify immigration authorities immediately when discovering illegal aliens.
“In reality, the children of migrant workers do not benefit much from the country’s education system because of the language barrier and other difficulties. Additionally, if their parents are illegal aliens, they don’t dare to go to school and are mostly neglected. But the situation will improve for them,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the justice ministry will revise the Immigration Act to reflect such changes, adding that the two ministries’ posture marks a significant step-forward toward better protecting human rights of migrant workers and their family members.