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A portion of the “Textbook for Democratic Citizens Living Together” published by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education since 2014. The textbook encourages students to reflect on socially sensitive issues like refugees.
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Democratic citizenship textbook reminds South Koreans of their past
“South Korean refugees were the first people to receive assistance after the UN was founded. The United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) built housing for South Korean refugees and organized outdoor English schools to teach various disciplines. We were not really any different from the many people in places like South Sudan and Syria.” “Textbook for Democratic Citizens Living Together,” a book produced in 2014 by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, explains that South Koreans during the Korean War were the beneficiaries of the UN’s first aid to refugees. Included in the textbook’s pages are photographs of figures such as Kim Koo, An Jung-geun, An Chang-ho, and Yoon Bong-gil who traveled overseas fighting for Korea’s independence. “Don’t forget where we were before National Liberation on August 15, 1945,” the caption reads. “We too were refugees.” The textbook then goes to pose difficult questions for students, including “What effect does the recognition of refugee rights have on our society?” and “Is it reasonable for a state to shun refugees to suit its own citizens’ interests?” The textbook was effectively the first to seriously tackle the refugee issue after “democratic citizenship education” was adopted as a course in South Korea. As of 2017, just eight schools had elective courses based on the textbook. Others were uncomfortable dealing with societal issues like refugees in the content of public school education. Attempts to introduce democratic citizenship education in South Korea date back to the early 1990s, but were repeatedly thwarted by objections to “addressing socially sensitive topics in schools.” Recently, however, the courses have drawn new attention as a possible approach to resolving heated societal issues like the refugee matter. “When Germany took in a million refugees in 2015 with the full support of the public, that was thanks to the strong sense of political consciousness instilled by having ‘political education’ as a mandatory elementary, middle, and high school subject for nearly a half-century,” said Kim Won-hae, a democratic citizenship education advisor for the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. “We need to hurry up and include democratic citizenship education in the regular curriculum,” Kim said. The Ministry of Education is poised to announce plans to promote democratic citizenship education around the middle of next month, with the aim of “fostering the democratic citizens needed for conflict prevention and social unity.” It is also pursuing a plan to include democratic citizenship education in the regular curriculum by 2022. By Hwang Chun-hwa, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
