| Students with multicultural backgrounds attend a foreign language and culture class at an elementary school in Seoul in this file photo. Korea Times file |
By Lee Hyo-jin
The number of students from multicultural backgrounds in Korea steadily increased to reach over 160,000 last year, according to government data.
According to the Korea Educational Development Institute, in 2021, there were a total of 160,058 students at elementary, middle and high schools nationwide who were from mixed heritage backgrounds or born to two foreign national parents ― a more than threefold increase from 46,954 in 2012.
Of them, 131,522 were born to a Korean national and a foreign national, while both of the parents of the other 28,536 students were of foreign nationality.
By nationality, the number of children with one parent from Vietnam accounted for 32 percent, followed by those with one Chinese parent at 23.6 percent, and those with one parent from the Philippines at 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the share of students with one parent from Japan stood at five percent, a sharp decline from 27.5 percent in 2012.
Experts point out that the growing number of children from diverse backgrounds should be better reflected in government policies.
In order to prepare Korea to be a fully multicultural society, the government has been urged to increase educational programs on multiculturalism, along with policy support for students from mixed heritage backgrounds, who often face difficulties due to discrimination.
Shin Yoon-jeong, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, said that mixed heritage children can suffer from identity struggles living in Korea, as well as problems if their foreign national parent has an unstable legal status.
Shin called for tailored support measures depending on each child's nationality.
“For (mixed heritage) students who have Korean nationality, the government should offer more support for them to overcome discrimination due to their (im)migrant backgrounds, while more childcare support services and after-school learning programs should be provided to those who have foreign nationalities,” she said during a social policy forum held last December.