Welcome to BASE21

By Park Chon-ung
Ansan Migrant Shelter

If education is a process of leading persons toward the right, all children should have the right to be educated regardless of their nationalities or status of stay and the legal system granting limited chance of education upon them has to be changed.
Especially with the increasing number of immigrant workers, we should pay attention that migrant workers' problems are not limited to their working problems but also their living and their children's problems. The government ought to discuss a policy and make a system for migrant workers' education, social security and all their living conditions.

1. Present condition of migrants' children and their education
I don't know the exact number of immigrants and their children in Korea. However, there were more than 500,000 foreigners in Korea as of August 2000. Among them there weree 16,064 legal workers, 79,062 industrial trainees, and 172,501 undocumented workers. There are about 10,000 families under international marriages and the number is increasing by over 3,000 couples every year.
But there is no exact statistics for migrants' children because most of them are undocumented. We only know that the number of migrant workers' children has increased steadily.
Recently many migrants come to Korea from China or Mongolia, but their children are not educated well. They have many difficulties of laws and systems to make their children enter regular school because there are 65% undocumented workers in Korea.
Korean Mongol School (Pastor Won Seong-hee) of The Seoul Migrant Center (Pastor Yoo Hae-geun) has taught undocumented workers' children since the end of 1999. This school has 4 classes and 46 students. Another 10 children are studying in the elementary school via informal route of Ansan Migrant Shelter (Pastor Park Chon-ung) Sungnam Migrant Workers' House (Pastor Kim Hae-sung). Except for a rare few elementary schools don't accept migrants' children. The teenagers among them have no chance to enter a regular middle and high school; some of them study at private institutes or work at factories.
It is rare for migrants' children having foreign parents who married in Korea to study at the regular elementary school. Only one, the child of a Sri Lankan couple who married in 1992, got a chance of entering elementary school in 2000. Almost all migrants' children are preschool children. We estimate the admission to school of migrant's children to increase after 3-4 years.

2. International Convention on the Rights to Education of Migrants' children
The international human rights meeting at Vienna in 1993 made various human rights bills. We can know from the 'Convention on the Rights of The Child' and the 'International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families' about the basis of educational opportunity for migrants' children.
According to the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child', it says in Article 2 that "States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status."
Children can be guaranteed their rights as described. And this convention also says that 'States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular, make primary education compulsory and available free to all, encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need, make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means and make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children.
According to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, it states clearly 'Each child of a migrant worker shall have the basic right of access to education on the basis of equality of treatment with nationals of the State concerned. Access to public pre-school, educational institutions or schools shall not be refused or limited by reason of the irregular situation with respect to stay or employment of either parent or by reason of the irregularity of the child's stay in the State of employment.'

3. Issue on revision of municipal law
The Ministry of Education tried to revise 'Education Law of Primary and Secondary School' bill and made a legislation notice. This bill should be passed in spite of opposition of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Education tries to give educational opportunity to undocumented workers' children by legislation notice of 'Education Law of Primary and Secondary School' bill on December 4, 2000.
According to the bill, the current stipulation that overseas Koreans or children of foreigners should submit immigration certificates or residence reports to principals when they enter or move to another school is to be changed to the submission of certificates proving that the children stay in the school district. However, The Ministry of Justice has said it is reluctant about it, as the policy will see an increase in illegal stayers. The Ministry of Justice always has conservative stand point on migrant workers case.
The law should be made with harmony of idea and reality. But the Ministry of Justice is a slave to selfishness without reality. It shows dereliction of duty of the Ministry of Justice that there are 65% undocumented workers. It is not too much to say that the responsibility of the wrong structure of migrant workers' market is on the Ministry of Justice.

4. The guarantee of the right to education of migrants' children
The educational opportunity for migrants' children has to be handled from a humanitarian point of view. In Japan, they offer educational chance even to undocumented immigrants from kindergarten to high school for free after confirming residence.
They keep the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of The Child to make primary education compulsory and available free to all, encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every
child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need.
In America, they give educational opportunity to undocumented immigrants’ children and children who are born in America can get American nationality and have all rights and opportunities.
Korea entered the international stage upon joining the UN 10 years ago. But there are points lacking in the law and system. It is more important to change the lawmakers' attitude or thought first before granting the country international connection and right view before revising law and system.
To give educational opportunity to migrants' children is their right, at the same time it is their duty and international law.
The UN intends to make an international society living together regardless of race, skin color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, country, social position, property, disability, birth and so on. The Korean government shouldn't hesitate to offer educational opportunity to migrants' children and try to make an international society.