Shown above are Cambodian students learning Korean language in school. (Ministry of Education and the International Korean Education Foundation)

By Kang Gahui

A center to support Korean-language education abroad has opened in the Gye-dong neighborhood of Seoul's Jongno-gu District.

The Ministry of Education on Sept. 1 held a ceremony for the official launch of the Overseas Korean Language Education Support Center.

The center analyzes each country's education system and demand for Korean at primary and secondary schools to ensure systematic provision of such instruction.

Based on this, it will devise related strategies tailored for each country and region and seek to boost the capacities of Korean-language teachers abroad to make such education sustainable over the mid- to long term.

At the ninth ministerial meeting on social relations in November last year, the Ministry of Education announced plans to stimulate Korean-language education at primary and secondary schools abroad and launch the center. Through a contest in the first half of this year, the International Korean Education Foundation was selected to run the center.

Starting with help to set up a Korean-language course at a U.S. school in 1999, the ministry has supported such courses at primary and secondary schools in countries with demand for Korean. As of last year, about 220,000 students were learning Korean at 2,526 schools in 46 countries.

kgh89@korea.kr