By Kang Shin-who
Staff reporter
DOKDO, Ulleung-gun _ Education authorities and schools are moving to strengthen students’ education on the Dokdo Islets, Korea’s easternmost territory, approximately five hours away from the mainland.
In this regard, many elementary and secondary schools along with universities have been encouraged to take their students to the islets where sunrise can be seen first in Korea. In addition, more and more officials and school teachers visit the island in order to better understand the historical background and teach students about Dokdo more vividly.
A group of officials and scholars from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Northeast Asian History Foundation also visited the place, last weekend. “We believe we can better map out plans on Dokdo education after experiencing the island on the spot,” said Lee Won-keun, a general director at the ministry.
On the way to the island, they dropped by at the Ulleung Office of Education on Ulleng Island, about one and half hours from Dokdo.
In a briefing to the ministry officials, Choi Su-hwan, chief of the education office said schools on Ulleng Island are in the frontline for Dokdo education.
The island, which belongs to North Gyeongsang Province, has a total of 877 students at six kindergartens, four elementary schools, four middle schools and a high school.
According to the education office, elementary schools spend 10 hours learning about Dokdo and more than that for middle schools. All students in their fifth and sixth grade at elementary schools go for a trip to the easternmost islets. Also, students participate in a variety of club activities related to Dokdo. For example, they collect newspaper articles regarding the island and create promotional strategies as an effort to help not only Koreans but people worldwide understand about the issue.
Apart from these, the office runs a Dokdo tour program for students and teachers. About 100 teachers under a training program visit the island and foreign English assistant teachers, recruited by English Program in Korea (EPIK) also participate in the trip.
The ministry has recently decided to put more materials related to Dokdo into the textbooks of middle and high schools. Under the plan, students will learn more about the historical and geographical meaning of Dokdo from next year.
Dokdo is composed of two main islands, Seodo or West Island and Dongdo or East Island, as well as tiny rocks scattered all around. A light house stands and police guards are stationed _ with a shaggy dog _ on Dongdo.
Although Japan from time to time claims them as its territory, the history of Dokdo has been documented in various ancient documents. These historical and geographical texts, found in both Korea and Japan, mark them as Korean territory. They also describe Dokdo as one of two islands in the East Sea near Gangwon Province.