The increased rate of suicide among students and school violence is what has led the MOE to come up with the new educational program. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Education (MOE) plans to introduce an educational course on social emotions to teach students to control their emotions, learn to live together, and put a stop to suicide and school violence.
The MOE announced on Sunday that it will test the program at designated schools in the cities of Busan and Gunsan.
The new course on social sentiments teaches students to control their actions and feelings and engage in a good relationships with others.
Students at the designated schools will learn emotional control, respect for life, and relationship management in addition to their everyday school curriculum.
How it works, for instance, is they first learn about the importance of life during ethics class, after which an outside instructor is invited to teach them about suicide prevention.
Animations and videos will be used in the program to help students relate to the material better. Parents will also be invited to learn about puberty, children’s emotions, and ways to deal with aggressive behavior.
The teachers will be trained to become ‘gatekeepers’ who are in charge of preventing suicide by understanding various symptoms of a person who is likely to commit suicide.
The increased rate of suicide among students and school violence is what has led the MOE to come up with the new educational program.
The MOE reported that 709 students attempted suicide last year, up by 57 percent since the previous year.
The school committee for countermeasures against school violence reported 30,993 cases of school violence in 2017, up from 17,749 cases in 2013.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
