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As the number of students from immigrant and mixed families continues to rise, the government announced new measures on Tuesday to improve tailored education programs, with the goal of boosting academic support and enhancing the overall learning environment.

The plan especially focuses on expanding customized educational resources for students from diverse cultural backgrounds and enhancing teacher training on educating multicultural students.

The number of students from immigrant families in Korea has nearly tripled over the past decade, rising from 67,806, or 1.07 percent of all students nationwide in 2014, to 193,814, or 3.72 percent, in 2024, according to the Ministry of Education.

As of last year, around 100 schools nationwide, each with at least 100 students, have more than 30 percent of pupils from immigrant backgrounds.

In response to the increase in diversity in the country, the government's plan aims to create a school environment that helps students from immigrant families become active and engaged members of society.

The education ministry plans to enhance support for students from such families born in Korea by creating a comprehensive assistance system.

For late-arrival immigrant students and those from multicultural families, the ministry plans to enhance Korean language education, as well as offer psychological and emotional counseling, tailored to each student's nationality, Korean language proficiency and visa status.

Educational support, which has largely been focused on elementary schools, will be expanded to middle and high schools. In line with this initiative, the government will introduce more Korean language classes designed to help students from non-Korean backgrounds adapt to the school system, especially in middle and high schools.

As of 2024, more than half of the 553 Korean language classes nationwide are offered in elementary schools, with 380 classes, compared to 92 in middle schools and 33 in high schools.

Additionally, the ministry said new guidelines and materials will be developed to provide information on residency status, school enrollment and career pathways.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the government also plans to push for visa reforms to help students from multicultural backgrounds secure jobs and residency after graduating from high school. This includes improving the visa system to allow students with strong ties to Korea to switch to the D-10 visa, known as the job seeker visa, or E-7, a work visa.

As the number of students from such backgrounds enrolling in vocational high schools increases, the government plans to expand job placement support by developing a specialized education model.

Efforts will be made to improve access to educational information, particularly for foreign parents unfamiliar with Korean culture.

The education ministry is also working to create legal provisions that would allow local education offices to address overcrowding of non-Korean students in certain regions by transferring some pupils to other schools, ensuring equal learning opportunities for all students based on local circumstances.

The education ministry said its plan not only focuses on supporting students from migrant backgrounds but also on strengthening teacher training to better equip educators working with multicultural students.

To enhance teachers' expertise, the government will introduce new mandatory training programs and establish a network for educators at schools with high concentrations of multicultural students to share best practices and teaching strategies.

In addition, universities that will train preliminary teachers will revise their curricula to improve multicultural literacy, while expanding field training programs in schools with high multicultural student populations.

For current teachers, the education ministry plans to implement a structured, step-by-step training system to enhance their ability to support multicultural students effectively.

Furthermore, to develop more effective education policies, the government will conduct its first comprehensive survey on students from multicultural backgrounds this year.

Currently, the only available data on multicultural students includes their numbers by region and school, according to an official from the education ministry.

The upcoming survey aims to gather more detailed information, including students' entry year into Korea, nationalities, Korean language proficiency and visa status, to better tailor support programs.