TWO years have passed since South Korea’s Jeju English Education City plan was announced. Provincial authorities report that some foreign schools have shown interest in establishing branch facilities in the education complex, but it appears that many difficulties lie ahead, The Korea Herald has reported.
Members of South Korea’s National Assembly inspected the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC) and exposed a host of problems. Lawmakers questioned the JDC and provincial officials about apparently slack inducement of foreign investment, which would increase costs for building the “global education city”, and the high cost of tuition expected for future students there.
The Roh Moo-hyun administration and the provincial government finalized the English-immersion city plan in September 2007 in a major effort to curb overseas education for South Korean youngsters. The ambitious provincial authorities then wanted to make the city an educational hub in Northeast Asia, which would consist of 12 international schools and a university zone, as well as English education centers to train English teachers and public servants and develop English education programs and policies. To realize this grand scheme, total construction costs increased from the original 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion) to the current estimate of 1.8 trillion won ($1.5 billion). Lawmakers calculated that as much as 77 million won ($65,190) would have to be invested per head for the envisioned 23,000 urban residents, consisting of students, teaching and administrative staff and employees of supporting businesses.
Planners of the education city estimated that it would cost $18,500 per year to send a child to a foreign-operated private school in the city. The assemblymen on the inspection panel pointed out that the tuition is too high to attract students from either South Korea or other Asian countries. “This is more than what it would cost for a year of college and far too much for a normal family to afford,” Grand National Party legislator Kang Ghil-boo said.
English villages that have appeared in South Korea in recent years have yet to prove successful, and the future of the much bigger version on Jeju Island is hardly predictable, educational experts said.
