Multicultural student ratio exceeds 70% in 2 Seoul elementary schools

Elementary school students walk to school in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Amid a rise in the number of foreign residents and international marriages in Korea, two schools in Seoul stand out with over 70 percent multicultural students, a regional education office found, Sunday.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), Seoul Younglim Elementary School and Daedong Elementary School, both of which are in Yeongdeungpo District, boast multicultural student ratios of 70.93 percent and 70.88 percent, respectively.

Additionally, there are seven other elementary schools in Seoul with multicultural student ratios exceeding 40 percent.

While the southern regions of Seoul, such as Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Geumcheon, have housed a significant number of multicultural students, there are also noticeable increases of multicultural students across various regions recently.

As of last year, out of 384,439 elementary school students in Seoul, 13,049 were multicultural students, constituting 3.43 percent of the total. This marks a 0.34-percentage-point increase from five years ago in 2019.

The proportion of multicultural students is anticipated to continue growing, especially as the number of new students in elementary schools in Seoul has dropped to 50,000 for the first time in history this year.

In response to these demographic shifts, changes are underway in education policies.

The SMOE is actively implementing multicultural education for all students to provide support for the rising number of multicultural students.

Additionally, it is now mandatory for all teachers to undergo more than 15 hours of multicultural awareness education within three years.

“We will continue to enhance support to ensure that multicultural students can adapt successfully to their educational environment,” said an official at the SMOE.