Gimpo proposes to report the registration at primary school for foreign children

Children attend school at an elementary school in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, in this undated photo of Gimpo City, Sunday. Thanks to Gimpo City

By Lee Hae-rin

Gimpo, west of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, has proposed the central government’s mandate to notify parents of primary school enrollment information for their foreign children, in an effort to improve the lives of immigrants here, the city government said on Sunday.

In Korea, primary and secondary education is mandatory by law, and the country issues school enrollment applications to Korean school-age children. The message informs parents of the schools to which their children have been assigned, as well as the dates of the preliminary call and entrance ceremony.

Such letters are not sent here to the parents of children of foreign nationals, which the Gimpo city government considers discrimination and an obstacle to the social integration of immigrants.

This led the city government to suggest that education authorities inform foreign residents about the time and manner in which their children attend primary school.

However, the central government rejected the proposal for a long-term review because foreign children are not subject to Korea’s compulsory education law and as such there is no specific government agency to handle the matter.

Still, Gimpo tried to implement the immigration initiative on his own, but again encountered obstacles due to the lack of a legal basis that allowed the city government to obtain personal information from foreign children and their parents.

In response, last November the city government asked the Commission for the Protection of Personal Information to deliberate on the municipality’s acquisition of personal information from foreign residents related to the education of their children, which the commission approved.

Following this approval, starting in the 2025 academic year, the city plans to send primary school notification letters to parents of school-aged children with foreign nationality in Korean, in the language of the parents’ home country.

“We will continue to push for a policy based on respect and consideration to take the lead in promoting interculturalism here,” Gimpo Mayor Kim Byung-soo said.

Gimpo is the chairman city of the country’s multicultural municipal council.

The council, founded in November 2012, now has 26 municipalities and discusses migration and social integration policies.

Since February last year, Gimpo has presented itself as the best candidate to host an immigration agency, given its proximity and accessibility to Incheon and Gimpo International Airports.