H.E. Shin Bong-Kil, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea has said that the adoption of the Korean language as a second foreign language by the Indian government has served as a way for Korean language education in Indian schools. Furthermore, knowing the Korean culture and language will facilitate future opportunities.
“We will make an effort to prepare a Korean language curriculum and teaching materials for Indian schools to ensure a strong foundation for Korean language education. We will also ensure that the Korean language can be adopted in the CBSE Board examination by 2023 when students who have learned Korean as a regular subject in 2020 will become ninth-graders,” adds H.E Shin.
About 140 students from 10 different schools joined a Korean hobby class and have finished lessons. The classes began in May 2020.
Partush Dhanetia, class IX student, Apeejay School, Haryana said, “The language of the country plays a big role in understanding a country's culture. Through this Korean language class, I was able to learn not only Korean Language but also about Korean cultures, such as Korean clothing, food, and living style like Ondol – the heated flooring system, and I am grateful to the school and the Korean Cultural Centre India for giving me this opportunity,” said
The Korean Cultural Centre in India has established a brotherly union with 106 schools. Meanwhile, the Cultural Centre is making efforts in disappearing the Korean language to Indian schools, starting with Korean language classes.
Korean language classes started with 2 schools in 2015 and expanded to 14 schools with 493 students in 2019. This year, Korean language classes have been conducted for c to IX students in 13 schools, out of which 3 schools have adopted Korean as a regular subject and will complete the one-year course in March 2021.
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The classes at Indian schools were shifted to the online medium in April due to the pandemic.
Harsh Sharma, who taught the Korean language hobby class said, “It was never easy to conduct online classes in real-time under difficult circumstances with corona, but after hearing how the students felt through the certificate ceremony, I found it to be more rewarding because it was a difficult course under difficult conditions such as the unstable Internet services.”