Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

04-27-2009 18:23

18 USFK Schools Planned in Pyeongtaek
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/117_43926.html

Gyeonggi Asked to Share Costs for Korean Students' Enrollment

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Gyeonggi Province Government and the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) are moving to build 18 primary and secondary schools by 2020 in Pyeongtaek, where a new consolidated U.S. base will be built.

Gyeonggi has been asked by the USFK to invest an unspecified amount of money into the establishment of the schools. In turn, the USFK will permit the admission of Korean students.

Last February, USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp proposed that the new army schools in the province make up their enrollment targets with up to 15- 20 percent of Korean students during a meeting with lawmakers of the National Assembly Defense Committee. The proposal has already been reported to Cheong Wa Dae and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

``It's true that we're discussing the plans with the USFK, but we need to wait for a final decision from the government,'' said Kim Yong-yeon, an official of the Gyeonggi Province Government.

It's still uncertain whether the central government will allow the enrollment of Korean students at the new schools as currently it's illegal for Korean students to attend U.S. army schools here under the Education Law.

``We've been studying the legal issues but nothing has been confirmed yet,'' said an official from the education ministry.

USFK has been seeking to admit Korean students to its schools as more education facilities will be needed at its new army base in line with the ``tour normalization'' plan under which the U.S. army will allow most married U.S. service members assigned to South Korea to live with their families for about two or three years with financial support from the U.S. government under a command sponsorship program.

Hence, more money will be needed to build schools that can accommodate children of the U.S. soldiers, which is why the USFK is offering space for Korean students ― to get financial support from the province.

Legalizing Korean students who are currently illegally attending U.S. army schools is another reason for the plan, according to a source from the USFK. According to parents and teachers from the army schools, some U.S. base personnel have adopted Korean children who wish to attend the schools in exchange for money and other compensation.

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[stevieg4ever]

18 schools, it would be interesting to know what the capacity of the schools are.

Also how will 평택 feel about having such an extensive foreign community on their doorstep I wonder??

[Kikomom]

I had a feeling something like this was coming down the pike.

But what's this about illegal students and adoptions?

[nosmallplans]

[kimchi_pizza]

I gather two things from this:

1. Certain DoE dept heads will become very very weathy from the bribes gathered to allow their child to attend these schools.

and

2. The USAFK intends on staying for the long long loooonnnggggg haul.

Not too surprising since they're recently allowing military servicemen/women and families to remain in Korea up to 3 year stints where as before families were discouraged from coming to Korea. This may be something similar to programs set up in the UK and Germany. I dunno....

[Kikomom]

Bases come and bases go... depending on the 'mission' and the local political climate. Two naval bases I was stationed on in the 80's and 90's are no longer there: NAS Bermuda, and Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. At this point, what's next for Gtmo is anyone's guess. Well before the prison there was a huge fleet training center that was moved stateside sometime during the 90's.

Wario went to kindergarten at the DOD school on Roosy Roads. I was pretty impressed with their setup, five year-olds going to school full days and learning phonics on computers. We came home to PA when he started 1st grade and they didn't have computers till middle school. The kindergartens were half days, and are still half days today.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I can't possibly imagine the government tolerating a foreign-controlled alternative to the Korean school system open to anyone opperating as an alternative. The one-million student wait-list would just be too much of a slap in the face in terms of what a huge number of parents actually think of their county's educational system.