The government said Sunday it will employ 200 foriegn wives of Koreans from China, Japan and several other countries next year as teachers of foreign languages at elementary and secondary schools.
The foreign spouses will begin teaching at schools from March of next year following a one-year program at national universities of education across the country, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said, noting the program aims not only to enhance the foreign language skills of students but to allow them to get acquainted with multi-culturalism.
A growing number of foreigners have married Koreans in recent years due to a steady influx of migrant workers, pushing the number of multicultural families up to 250,000 households nationwide last year.
Education ministry data shows that the number of multicultural students who attend primary or secondary schools reached 46,954 in April 2012, nearly five times larger than 9,389 in 2006 when the ministry began compiling the data.
"We expect the program to help multicultural families gain self-esteem while promoting a multicultural environment in schools," a ministry official said.
The ministry, which has employed 240 housewives from multicultural families as language teachers since 2010, plans to hire 160 more such lecturers in 2014, the official said.
Out of the 240 teachers currently serving, Chinese lecturers accounts for 108 followed by 57 Japanese teachers. Other nationalities in the program are Russian, Mongolian and Vietnamese.
To be eligible, applicants must provide proof of a four-year college education. (Yonhap)