[Column] Where should Samsung’s 800 million go?

By Yun Yeo-song, professor of Civil Engineering at Induk Institute of Technology

Three months have passed since Samsung chairman Lee Keun-hee and his family pledged to donate 800 billion won (about 800 million USD) to society, but no detailed plan has yet emerged of how to use the huge amount of money. The government probably doesn’t know what to do with it, as so many people from every walk of life are so carefully scrutinizing the situation. Some maintain that the fund should be used for educational projects because the money was drawn from the Samsung Lee Keun Hee Scholarship Foundation. And President Roh Moo-hyun remarked, “To prevent succession of poverty and polarization of educational opportunities, it is appropriate to use the fund for alienated people and those in the low-income bracket. In consideration of these two elements, the fund must go toward scholarship projects to foster vocational education."

Every survey shows that the household income of vocational high school students is much lower than that of ordinary students. In addition, a considerable number of students of vocational schools enter two-year technical colleges. While children of recipients of national basic livelihood security account for only 2 percent of the entire student body, a full 55 percent of two-year college students are from low-income households.

Polarization among educational institutions in terms of the government’s financial support is serious as well. New students in two-year technical colleges comprise nearly 40 percent of students entering colleges and universities every year. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development provides financial support to less than one tenth of four-year university students and offers grants to no more than 2 percent. Two-year college students receive less benefits than these. Additionally, most private scholarships are given to four-year university students, so students at technical colleges rarely benefit. Even when old women who have sold gimbap their whole lives donate their money to good causes, they tend to give to four-year universities. In a reality in which educational polarization is serious, less fortunate institutions and people should get preferential financial support.

These days, vocational education is gradually disappearing in South Korea. Under a new government plan, universities will admit more graduates from vocational high schools than before, but this may only serve to weaken the quality of vocational education. The government should establish a policy to build a satisfactory "vocational education track" after strengthening the connection between vocational high schools and their two-year college counterparts. They should also develop a scholarship foundation to promote vocational education and provide school expenses to graduates from vocational high schools who enter two-year colleges.

This would be a desirable place for Samsung to jump in. We can’t deny the fact that domestic conglomerates on a worldwide scale can enjoy today’s glory thanks to the passion of small- and medium-sized companies, which have often suffered economic hardship. The biggest problem these smaller firms face is in securing well trained industrial manpower. If the Samsung fund is used to cultivate the industrial work force, it will help ease a shortage in this manpower.

Now is the time to create a scholarship foundation on a nationwide level for the "forgotten students" of vocational high schools and two-year technical colleges. If the Samsung money is used for vocational education, educational polarization will be eased. There will be no one who can raise an objection to this.