By Park Si-soo
Staff reporter
The Korea Management Association (KMA) has joined People to People International (PTPI) to support multi-ethnic families facing financial problems.
In January, the KMA, which has enjoyed mentor-like status in the domestic business circle, became a chapter of the non-profit multinational NGO established in 1956 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities.
Founded in 1962, the KMA has provided a wide range of consulting services to its member companies seeking cost-efficient, future-oriented and environment-friendly business strategies. At present, more than 1,000 domestic firms benefit from the services.
This was the first case for all employees of a company to register at the same time with the voluntary organization, headed by Kim Seung-nam, chairman of Joeun System, a leading security services company. The KMA with nearly 100 employees is the largest community chapter of PTPI.
With an annual budget of 64 million won ($54,500), the KMA will support multi-ethnic families with children who gave up their studies due to discrimination in the classroom stemming from their background and looks, and schools in major foreign community areas. Plus, it plans to launch mentoring programs to help other immigrants and their children settle in Korean society.
“More attention to immigrants and their children at the level of companies and the local community is urgently needed,” Choi Kwon-seok, KMA president, said. “The goal of our mission is making this society a place where migrant children can grow up without facing discrimination or the cold shoulder caused by their difference in looks and background.”
The KMA’s commitment comes at a time when the need for education programs designed to support interracial children is drawing greater social attention.
As the number of multicultural marriages has steeply increased in recent years, so does the number of interracial children in the classroom.
In 2005, 6,121 such children were registered at schools across the country, according to the Korea National Statistical Office. It jumped to 7,998 in 2006 and 13,445 in 2007. The government estimates more than 20,000 children from multi-racial families have reached schooling age this year.
However, it is very hard for these children to adapt themselves to Korea where a homogeneous tradition has long been dominant. This long-established concept has caused a number of interracial children great pains in the classroom.
A report in 2008 by Seoul National University showed more than 20 percent of mixed-race children had been bullied and among them, nearly 34 percent had experienced ostracism owing to a fact that their mothers or fathers were foreigners. Many of them dropped out of school.
As part an effort to kick such maltreatments out of classrooms, the KMA has formed a sponsorship with Dorim Elementary School in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, a self-governing district with more than 40,000 migrants from 53 countries.
In the initial step, it will support 10 interracial children from underprivileged multi-racial families. Nearly 10 million won will be used throughout the year to help them settle in the school and local community, the KMA said.
About 25 percent of children of multicultural families reside in Gyeonggi Province, followed by 11 percent, 9.6 percent and 8.5 percent of them staying in Seoul, North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces, respectively.
“We will gradually increase the number of children and schools under our sponsorship,” said Cho Yoon-hee, a KMA spokesman. “We will also encourage our member companies to participate in this program to widen the scope of beneficiaries.”
At present, PTPI has 35 community chapters across the nation and 30 university and two high-school student chapters, with more than 2,400 members actively taking part in various volunteer programs. This year alone, it is seeking to raise the number of chapters to over 50.