VietNamNet Bridge – Four secondary schools and high schools in HCM City in upcoming 2016-2017 academic year will teach Korean as part of a pilot programme, according to the city’s Department of Training and Education.

Korean language teaching course at the Marie Curie Secondary School in Hà Nội. Four secondary schools and high schools in HCM City in upcoming 2016-2017 academic year will teach Korean as part of a pilot programme, according to the city’s Department of Training and Education. — Photo sejong.hcmussh.edu.vn

A total of 500 students at Hoa Lu and Binh Tho secondary schools and Thu Duc and Bui Thi Xuan high schools will be enrolled in the classes.

However, school representatives have said that a total of 40-45 students in each classroom was too large. They also said the schools did not have standard classrooms for language classes.

The representatives spoke at a conference held on Tuesday in HCM City by the management board of the 2020 National Foreign Languages Project at the Ministry of Education and Training.

English language classes beginning in the first grade are compulsory at all public schools. Students who study French, German, Japanese, Chinese or Korean must continue taking English classes until high school graduation.

The Korean language pilot programme is also being carried out in Ha Noi this school year, with a total of 500 students.

On February 4, the ministry signed an agreement with the South Korean Embassy in Viet Nam on the pilot teaching of Korean at schools from now to 2023.

At the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister of Training and Education Nguyen Vinh Hien said that Korean language instruction was necessary to provide human resources for more than 4,000 Korean enterprises in the country and for Vietnamese who work in South Korea.

VNS