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SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's next president proposed Wednesday hiring thousands of new teachers to strengthen English education and improve national competitiveness.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak's team envisions that English should be taught in all classes beginning in 2010, a dramatic overhaul to the country's educational establishment.
Lee, set to take office February 25, plans to hire 23,000 new English teachers by 2013 and inject some four trillion won (US$4.2 billion) into English education over the next five years.
For decades, almost all South Korean students have been taught English in Korean, with an emphasis on reading comprehension and grammar -- a practice that produces few fluent English speakers even among college graduates.
The policy resulted in a huge demand for private English education among high school and college students and beyond since fluency in English can guarantee a job in South Korea.
The English craze has also caused what critics phrase an "English divide" in this education-obsessed country. The rich who can provide their children with a good English education help them land well-paying jobs, while the poor who are deprived of an English education fall further down the social ladder.
Lee, a pragmatic former CEO of Hyundai Group's construction arm, has pledged to make sure all high school graduates can conduct daily conversations in English.
"Like it or not, English is one of the common languages in the world," Lee Kyung-sook, head of Lee's transition team, said during a televised public hearing on the English education. "National competitiveness is directly related to English education."
The proposed plan opens the way for other English-speaking professionals -- such as former diplomats and businessmen stationed abroad -- to become teachers.
The plan also calls for exchange programs for teachers from English-speaking countries while hiring college students, housewives and overseas Koreans who can speak fluent English as assistant teachers.
The plan is drawing mixed reactions from teachers.
Hwang In-sung, a supervisor at Daejeon Metropolitan Education Office, said most instructors were in favor of the plan but the older ones "are concerned they might not be capable of teaching English in English."
Lee Seung-ok, a high school English teacher in Seoul, said only a few students could follow lessons in English and worried the plan will further increase parents' financial burden, requiring them to send children to private institutions to help them keep up.
