30 April 2021 05:31 pm Views - 4344
The Ministry of Education has decided to include the Korean language as a foreign language for the Advanced Level (A/L) curriculum from this year.
The decision was taken following discussions held between Education Minister G.L Peiris and Korean Ambassador Santhush Woonjin JEONG in close cooperation with the National Institute of Education and National Education Commission on how to promote Korean language education in the country.
Minister Peiris said this movement will pave the way for the expansion of Korean language education in local schools.
“The students entering grade 12 in the national schools could choose the Korean language as a foreign language this year and in 2023 they can sit for the A/L examination with Korean language as a subject to enter local universities,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Korean Ambassador expressed his pleasure that the Korean language was adopted in the A/L grades this year and can be adopted in the examination in 2023. When students who had learnt the Korean language as a foreign language will sit for the university entrance examinations. It will greatly contribute to the promotion of our bilateral ties.
The Korean Embassy will extend its fullest support by coordinating online capacity building programme for Korean Language teachers in Sri Lanka with the National Institute of Education to ensure a strong foundation for Korean language education” he said.
The Ambassador further said that learning the Korean language would open the window to many job opportunities in Korea. The Korean government's policy of “equal pay for equal work” has further elevated the engagement in labour cooperation in recent years.
About 23,000 Sri Lankans are presently employed in South Korea and around US$520 million was sent by them as foreign exchange to Sri Lanka in 2019.
The migrant workers bridge both the countries in many avenues than one, as they continue to contribute to the economic advancement of both Korea and Sri Lanka. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)