Primary schoolchildren in Madagascar to learn Korean folk tales

Korean Ambassador to Madagascar Lim Sang-woo, back row third from left, poses with primary school students in Madagascar who were given new textbooks containing Korean folk tales during a ceremony in Antananarivo, Dec. 23. / Courtesy of Korean Embassy in Madagascar

By Bahk Eun-ji

Primary school students in Madagascar will study textbooks containing Korean folk tales, the Korean Embassy in the island country said, Tuesday.

According to the embassy, the textbooks “Korean and Madagasy Traditional Folk Tales and Culture” will be distributed to primary schools in the metropolitan area and major local cities there starting this month in a pilot project.

The embassy has been producing the book in cooperation with the country's education ministry since October, and printed 3,400 copies of the first edition published Dec.23.

The textbook is written in Malagasy, the official language of the country, and contains 10 famous folk tales from both countries.

Among the 10 Korean folk tales are “Heungbu and Nolbu,” a story about a selfish, greedy man named Nolbu and his good-hearted but poor younger brother Heungbu, and “Byeoljubujeon,” a story about a turtle searching for a rabbit's liver to cure the sick king of the sea.

In addition to the folk tales, the textbook also talks about Korea's economic development and culture with topics such as Hangeul and local cuisine.

The embassy said it initiated the project to support the poor educational environment there.

Most public school students do not have their own textbooks, instead relying on the teachers' copies. On top of the shortage of textbooks, those books are written in French, as most of them are donated from France.

“We came up with the idea of publishing textbooks written in Malagasy, after we learned the young students do not have educational material in their mother language. We chose folk tales from both countries in order to arouse the students' interest, as they are interesting and easy to understand,” said Lim Sang-woo, the Korean ambassador to Madagascar.

The Korean Embassy in Madagascar, which opened in July 2016, has been promoting Korean culture to locals through various programs such as K-pop events.