'Gov't should provide education for undocumented children from multicultural families'

Children from multiracial families participate in a Korean class at a school in Seoul, in this file photo. /Korea Times file

By Bahk Eun-ji

The number of students from multicultural families in Korea continues to grow, but many of them are in a blind spot for education and healthcare, according to data submitted to Rep. Kwon In-suk of the Democratic Party Korea by the Ministry of Education, Tuesday.

The data showed a total of 147,378 students from multiracial families enrolled in elementary, middle and high school this year. The number increased by 15,013 year-on-year to 137,225 in 2019 from 122,212 in 2018.

By grade, 107,770 or 73.12 percent were in elementary school, 26,850 or 18.21 percent were in middle school and 12,277 or 8.67 percent were in high school.

Under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was ratified in 1991, the Korean government is required to provide education to all children living in the country regardless of nationality or eligibility to stay.

Critics point out that most unregistered children from undocumented families are off the grid and denied the basic rights of education, healthcare and protection from violence.

“In the case of undocumented immigrants, they either give up their children's admission to school or can't go to school because of their unstable status, but the education ministry does not even know the current status of their nonattendance or even the exact number of undocumented children here,” Rep. Kwon said.

“The ministry should actively step forward so that they can improve the reality ― that they are marginalized even in regard to basic education administrative services.”

In response to the concerns, the education ministry official said the ministry is cautious about investigating the exact number of undocumented migrant students in each school as it can be another form of discrimination for the students.

“Currently, all children including undocumented children are free to enter schools if they can verify their place of residence. That means immigrant parents don't have to give any information as to whether they are permitted to stay or not in terms of sending their children to school,” said an official at the ministry's student support bureau.

“We have been actively promoting the fact that undocumented children can go to school regardless of their status through various related organizations and communication channels by translating the information into 13 languages for those who do not know about this,” the official said.