We will ensure that all our children are given equal opportunities!

The 20th session of the Multicultural Family Policy Commission presided over by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum

deliberates on how to provide inclusive support for school-age children from multicultural families as well as the implementation plan for multicultural family policy in 2022

 ｢How to provide inclusive support for school-age children from multicultural families｣

  √ Number of multicultural students on the rise despite a decrease in the overall number of elementary/secondary school students

    ☞ Growing demand for support for school-age children from multicultural families

  √ Ensuring that school-age multicultural children/youths start their lives equally

    △ Adoption of 'Dabaeum Program' (program designed to help children from multicultural families with pre-school learning) △ Helping multicultural children/youths enhance their bilingual capability △ Expanded operation of 'steppingstone' course, etc.

  √ Overall enhancement of multicultural accommodation in society

    △ Expansion of one-on-one professional psychological counseling △ Promotion of revision of legal definition of 'multicultural families' △ Development of diverse contents for improvement of multicultural awareness

｢Implementation plan for multicultural family policy in 2022｣

  √ 2022 being the last year of the third multicultural family policy basic plan

     → A total of 1,481 sub-items to be promoted by 18 central administrative institutions and 17 cities/provinces to help multicultural families settle down in this country on a long-term basis and help marriage migrants take part in social/economic sectors more positively

The government held the 20th session of the Multicultural Family Policy Commission on February 4 at the government complex building in Seoul, with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presiding.

 At this session, the Commission deliberated on ｢How to provide inclusive support for school-age children from multicultural families｣, including the ｢Implementation plan for multicultural family policy in 2022｣ and the ｢Result of evaluation of the relevant work done in 2020｣.

The contents of the agenda items discussed at the session are as follows:

[How to provide inclusive support for school-age children from multicultural families]

As of 2020, members of multicultural families (1.09 million) account for 2.1% of the entire population (51.83 million). The number of newborn multicultural babies (16,000) constitutes 6.0% of the entire population of newborn babies (272,000).  Members of multicultural families are expected to continue to occupy a larger part of society.

The number of those attending elementary/secondary schools is on the decline, but that of multicultural students is on the rise.

The policy demand is getting higher for support for school-age children from multicultural families in adapting to school life and entering society in addition to the alleviation of parents’ burden concerning the rearing of preschool-age children and public education for children accompanying their mothers who remarried locals as the focus of the policy for children from multicultural families.

* (2019)  326 classes → (2020) 372 classes → (2021) 404 classes

Rainbow School* is to be run for children accompanying their mothers who remarried locals but are not attending school. Materials concerning entering/transferring school are to be provided in 14 languages. Information on how to join local public education is to be provided via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) twice a year for children accompanying their mothers who remarried locals in particular.

     * Rainbow School: Support provided to youths from migrant families concerning Korean language, basic information on Korean society, and programs for improving their social relations, which are designed to help them adapt to local society better and enter/transfer schools

For multicultural minority-majority areas, arrangements are to be made to provide detailed support and expand the legal scope of multicultural families*.

     * (Examples of those not falling under the category of multicultural families) children living in Korea with their Korean mother or father, but the other parents is living outside the country

③ Helping establish mental/emotional stability and peer relationships

According to a 2021 status survey concerning immigrant youths, they appear to experience a higher level of mental stress than their non-immigrant counterpart. It is noteworthy that many of them have difficulty building peer relationships at school. It is necessary to provide support for mental stability and development of sociability.

We will engage in the expanded operation of ‘steppingstone’ course, which is for those planning entry/transfer at the elementary/secondary school level.

     * (2021) 42 elementary/12 secondary schools ⟶ (2022) 46 elementary/14 secondary schools

Starting this year, counselors at 78 family centers will engage in one-to-one psychological counseling for children from multicultural families. Where necessary, interpreters* will be provided for children/youths who are not good in Korean. The relevant service will also be provided such as improvement of parent-child relationships based on the result of such counseling.

     * Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, and Mongolian

We will also strive for the invigoration of peer counseling programs that take into consideration multicultural students’ relationships with school friends.

We will increase the number of institutions that provide programs designed for the following: helping young children restore their identity and develop their sociability and leadership [(2021) 203 → (2022) 208) while striving to explore good-quality programs.

We will have programs designed to prevent school violence include contents about diversity, while arranging for experts/interpreters/school police officers(SPO) in case of school violence.

④ Promotion of multicultural accommodation through improvement of awareness

The most important thing for the healthy growth of multicultural children/youths is an inclusive environment for them at school and local community. Students, parents, and locals need to have open-mindedness toward them.

We recommend that schools adopt 'multicultural education' for at least two hours a year. We will provide the relevant educational films to them.

We will hold sessions designed to help teachers understand multicultural matters better, taking advantage of young volunteers in such sessions.

We will also strive to provide more opportunities for existing locals and immigrants to exchange with each other to provide multiculturalism-related education to those working in the public sector.

We will carry out consulting activities designed to check factors discriminating those from multicultural families in educational materials and the government’s publications. We will also strive to overhaul the procedure for inspection of Korean texts and evaluate the contents of the texts.

[ Implementation plan for multicultural family policy in 2022 ] 

The plan for 2022, which is the last year of the third basic plan, includes a total of 1,481 sub-items to be promoted by 18 central administrative institutions and 17 cities/provinces.

① Support provided for multicultural families to settle down on a long-term basis

We will amend the Act on the Regulation of Marriage Brokerage Agency to provide the basis for collection/use of the relevant personal information to protect the users and prevent international marriage brokers’ infringement of marriage migrants’ human rights.

We will also take steps to strengthen family centers’ function of case management to have multicultural families incorporated into the country’s social safety network, at the same time strengthening support for single-parent families including 30% tax deduction from earned/business income of working single parents and the like.

We will provide updated anti-pandemic guidelines concerning COVID-19 in twelve languages.*

     * Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, Mongolian, Russian, Thai, Cambodian, Japanese, Uzbek, Laotian, Nepalese, and English

We will build a closely knit system of countermeasures by strengthening the connection among local multicultural family support centers, Danuri call centers, and facilities supporting migrant women victims of violence. We will help victims recover from damages systematically in close linkage with 「Councils for the protection/support of victims」.

② Helping marriage migrants take part in social/economic sectors

We will run classes for preparation for qualification exams for marriage migrants through cooperation between public and private sectors. Likewise, we will increase the number of 'self-help support package' facilities (203 → 208) to help marriage migrant women design their future, strengthen their capability, and land jobs. We will also strive for the invigoration of the social economy in the multicultural family sector including exploration of social/economic models where marriage migrants take part as key players.

The Saeil Centers for Vocational Training for Women* will run special vocational training/education that reflects marriage migrant women job seekers’ needs and local businesses’ need for employees.

     * 「Saeil Centers for Vocational Training for Women」(159 centers across the country as of 2021):  They provide customized support to women experiencing career interruptions.

They also provide support for marriage migrants through customized agricultural education (1,600 people) considering the stage of settling down in this country and help them settle down in rural areas stably through a one-on-one guardianship system.

In addition, local governments will expand their assistance for marriage migrants’ social/economic participation* through programs befitting marriage migrants’ local communities.

     * Such examples include: 「Happy Market」 designed to help marriage migrants land jobs or open startups, multicultural (“Rainbow”) cafes, programs wherein they serve as docents for their home countries’ cultures, interpreters at traditional markets, job expo for marriage migrant women, etc.

③ Enhancement of multicultural accommodation based on mutual respect

Carrying out education designed to help people understand multicultural matters considering their life cycle stage and occupation. Encouraging marriage migrants to serve as local volunteers helping in multicultural educational sessions held at day care centers or schools.

We will do what we can to invigorate communication among people through the following: holding festivals for harmony among people from different home countries; operation of youths’ symphony orchestras; school education for cosmopolitans; composition of multicultural press corps, etc.

“We should strive to foster the relevant policy environment so that we can ensure that school-age children/youths from multicultural families will start their lives equally with others and grow as the country’s future leaders, by positively reviewing the matters discussed at today’s session,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said.

He added that the government will do what it can so that all of us may hold the view that members of multicultural families are our partners who will share the future with us.