By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A fresh round of competition is brewing among ward offices in Seoul to receive approval for the establishment of a second international high school in the capital.
Nowon-gu, a ward in northern Seoul, has recently requested the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to give it the green light to build the school, which will provide all classes in English.
Nowon-gu is a district known for high education fever, with some 110,000 students attending elementary and secondary schools. Its ward office chief, Lee No-gun, plans to meet Kong Jeong-taek, the top official of the education office, according to officials there.
Another ward office, in Yeongdeungpo-gu, has been working on a global school project since before its counterpart, but is now suffering from internal conflicts among residents over the location of the school, which will run an English immersion program. It has sought to build an international high school since last year.
Kong pledged to build one more international high school in Seoul during his election campaign. ``We will consider every possibility regarding the second international school here. But nothing has been decided yet,'' said Kwon Ki-dae, an official of the education office.
Seoul Global High School (SGHS), which opened last March in Jongno-gu, is the only elite school of its kind in the city. Last year, it enrolled 154 students from around the country, except Busan, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, where similar international schools have been established. This year, the school selected 156 students, including five foreign nationals.
Every student stays in a dormitory and tuition is the same as at public high schools. Classes are all conducted in English, except for Korean language, literature and Korean history.
There are four international schools in the country ― SGHS; Busan International High School; Incheon International High School and CheongShim International Academy.