30% of students at 350 schools nationwide have multicultural backgrounds

gettyimagesbank

The number of elementary, middle, and high schools in Korea where children with multicultural backgrounds account for more than 30 percent of the entire student body has surged to 350, according to a report, Friday.

This includes Korean nationals with one foreign-born parent, as well as other children with an immigrant background.

They account for 2.96 percent of the nation's 11,819 schools, with the highest ratio at one school reaching 97.4 percent.

According to the report from the Korean Educational Development Institute, 350 schools saw more than 30 percent of their students having multicultural backgrounds, up by 40 percent from 250 in 2018.

These schools are spread across 14 of the country’s 17 major provinces and metropolitan cities, excluding Daejeon, Ulsan and Sejong.

The Ministry of Education classifies a "multicultural student-dense school" as one where the total student population exceeds 100 and more than 30 percent of the students are from multicultural backgrounds. By this classification, 87 schools fall in this category, up by 278 percent from 2018's 23 schools.

At an elementary school in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, 97.4 percent of the students are from multicultural backgrounds.

The report highlights concerns that an excessively high proportion of multicultural students could negatively impact both multicultural students and non-multicultural students. Separate study programs for multicultural students may "stigmatization" them, resulting in discrimination against them. Conversely, focusing educational support on multicultural students might result in reverse discrimination against non-immigrant students, the report said.

The research team stressed the need for comprehensive plans for multicultural education policies to ensure all students in immigrant-dense areas receive quality education. It called for enhanced teacher training in multicultural education and improvements in personnel policies related to teacher assignments in these areas.

"Setting clear school visions and goals and planning educational activities rooted in multicultural education policies is crucial for providing quality education to all students," the report stated.