One-on-one Korean language lessons will be offered for children of foreign parents or multicultural households from March, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday.

Starting with 200 households this year, the city plans to extend the number of families receiving the service to 2,500 by 2013.

There are about 20,000 children with foreign parents who are at compulsory education ages ― between 3 and 12 ― in Korea. But some of them give up attending a local school or have difficulty adapting due to language and cultural obstacles.

“Especially, low-income households cannot afford to send their children to international schools or private institutes for extra education. So the children could be in a blind spot for safety and education,” said a city official.

The education program, offered from March to December this year, includes weekly visiting classes, a monthly magazine for education information, two scholastic aptitude tests and cultural activities.

Children from low-income households will be prioritized for the program, and the parents if they wish, city officials said.

A family is to pay 5,000 won of the total 47,000 won tuition fees. The remainder will be shouldered by the city and Daekyo, an education service provider which will dispatch its visiting teachers.

Applicants for the program can find more information at the city’s website (seoul.go.kr) and other support centers for foreign residents here. Phone call services are also available at 1588-1109.

Along with the on-one-one services, the city will select three elementary schools where Korean language lessons will be available for five days a week for children of foreign or multicultural parents.

Preschool children can also learn the Korean language at multicultural centers in Youngdeungpo and Seondong which have a lot of foreign residents.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)