This study is to review the results of the special classes for Saeteomin students, the young students who newly resettled in South Korea after they had defected from North Korea, and make some developmental alternative plans of education by analyzing ...
This study is to review the results of the special classes for Saeteomin students, the young students who newly resettled in South Korea after they had defected from North Korea, and make some developmental alternative plans of education by analyzing and studying the initial adaptation program which has been practiced in Samjuk elementary school since 2000, when the first two young Saeteomin students were transferred in a form of a special case admission from Hanawon, the government resettlement center for North Korean defectors, which is located near the school.
All young Saeteomin students in Hanawon are supposed to be transferred to Samjuk elementary school for adaption education. The courses they have to take include psychological adaption which is modified through a special curriculum, integrated courses of major subjects, and a basic learning course. They are required to take several kinds of experiencial learning courses including homestaying, taking part in a community, and going through cultural experience.
The special class for Saeteomin in Samjuk elementary school expanded into 3 classes as a lot of students joined. They have 20 class hour lessons a week, learning to understand school and daily life in South Korea, the difference between North and South Korean society by taking classes of ethics, Korean, and social study. After this period they are subsequently transferred to schools near their own homes.
Despite the efforts at Samjuk Elementary School in helping them to adjust, there are problems with the students' poor schooling condition, very low academic achievement, and high rates of quitting school. The fact that South Korean schools found it difficult to properly respond to the needs of the North Korean students and effectively integrate them into their new educational environment may cause people to worry about the functionality of the system in the event of re-unification of the Korean peninsula.
Samjuk elementary school has played an important role helping Saeteomin students accommodate themselves to new surroundings. To achieve its object the school has performed many valuable studies, projects, and programs related, as a research school specially designated by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources.
The findings of this study have been summarized as follows:
First, the special program practiced in Samjuk elementary school can be unique and have a special meaning in a sense that the North Korean students experienced and learned South Korean school life for the first time.
Second, the Samjuk program provides us with many things to think about concerning the model of this school program and whether it is to be adopted by other schools across in the country, where they have or may have in the future some North Korean students. A main point of concern is that better methods of education for these North Korean students can be attained from this model.
Third, by analyzing the supporting system that Samjuk elementary school has been provided, better alternative plans of support can be realized for the other schools who in the future may experience North Korean student enrollment.
The achievement of this project during the past 6 years from 2001 to 2006 was great. Yet some troubles which have been brought up by the separation of Korea for over half a century, and from which people suffer, are still remain. In order to solve all these troubles, a constant support should be made by Government.