Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka Santhush Woonjin Jeong expressed his pleasure regarding the Sri Lankan Government’s decision to officially adopt the Korean language as a foreign language for the Advanced Level curriculum from this year onwards.
“This has paved the way for the expansion of Korean language education in Sri Lankan schools. By this decision, students entering the 12th Grade of national schools can choose the Korean language as a foreign language this year and in 2023 they will be able to sit for the Advanced Level examination in the Korean language to enter the universities in Sri Lanka,” Ambassador Santhush said.
“It is wonderful that the Korean language was adopted in the advanced level classes this year and can be adopted in the examination in 2023, when students who have learned Korean as a foreign language will sit for the university entrance examinations,” he said.
Ambassador Santhush Woonjin Jeong expreesed these views during discussions with Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris.
The Ambassador was of the view that this decision will contribute to the promotion of our bilateral ties. The Korean Embassy will extend its fullest support by coordinating online capacity building programmes for teachers of Korean Language in Sri Lanka with the National Institute of Education to ensure a strong foundation for Korean languageeducation”.
The Ambassador elaborated that learning the Korean language would open the window to many job opportunities in Korea. The Korean Government policy of “equal pay for equal work” has further elevated the engagement in labour cooperation in recent years.
About 23,000 Sri Lankan employees are presently in Korea. Around 520 million US dollars were remitted by them from Korea to Sri Lanka in 2019. The migrant workers bridge both countries in more ways than one, as they continue to contribute to the economic advancement of both Korea and Sri Lanka.
The discusiins between Ambassador Santhush Woonjin Jeong and Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris centred around the close cooperation with the National Institute of Education and National Education Commission on how to promote Korean language education in Sri Lanka. Based on these fruitful commitments, the Education Ministry and the Education Institutes have been very cooperative and instrumental in the decision to adopt Korean as a foreign language for the advanced level classes from this year.
Currently, Korean language is taught as a foreign language for secondary classes up to ordinary level examinations.
Sri Lankan students have rapidly grown interest in Korean culture including K-pop music, K-dramas and K-movies, and it led to a growing desire to learn the Korean language. It is noteworthy that the Korean language learning in a classroom has exposed the students to a variety of other parts of Korean studies, including politics, trade, history, and more.
Until last year, however, Korean Language was not offered as a foreign language option for Advanced Level classes, so students had to take a two year break after ordinary level studies in learning Korean, even though they wished to pursue Korean Language studies in the University.