(Ministry of Education)
South Korea’s Ministry of Education plans to increase the number of Korean-language teachers dispatched to schools abroad this year, as global demand for the Korean language continues to surge alongside the popularity of Korean culture.
The ministry announced on Tuesday that it plans to send a total of 93 Korean-language teachers to more than 200 elementary and secondary schools across 13 countries this year.
The program dispatches qualified Korean teachers to countries where shortages of teaching personnel make it difficult to open Korean-language classes locally.
Beginning with Thailand in 2011, Korea has dispatched a cumulative total of 1,024 teachers to 21 countries through last year.
In the first half of this year, 52 Korean-language teachers were already sent to four countries – Thailand, India, Philippines, and Brazil.
In the second half of the year, the ministry will recruit 41 teachers to work in nine countries, including Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Kyrgyzstan, where the academic year begins in September.
Since nine existing teachers will continue their assignments, the number of newly selected recruits will be 32.
In Uzbekistan, the government is supporting additional allowances for dispatched teachers in an effort to promote Korean-language education in regional cities. The country has seen particularly rapid growth in Korean-language education, with both the number of schools operating Korean-language classes and student enrollment increasing roughly three- to fourfold over the past five years.
The ministry also plans to prioritize the selection of early-career Korean-language teachers with less than three years of teaching experience in order to expand opportunities for young educators to participate in overseas Korean-language education programs.
Applicants must hold at least a Level 2 Korean Language Teacher Certification as well as a bachelor’s degree.
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