Senior students, along with their middle school mentors, study at a classroom in Jin Hyung Middle and High School in central Seoul, as part of a generational mentorship program led by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on Nov. 18, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Yoon Sang-ki, 75, smiled when his mentor, a middle schooler around the age of his grandchildren, approved of the answer he had carefully written down on his math worksheet during a recent tutoring session offered at Jin Hyung Middle and High School in central Seoul.
“I’ve waited nearly 60 years for an opportunity to learn,” said Yoon, who could not go to middle school due to his poor background. “Now I look forward to Saturday for this class.”
Yoon is one of more than 1,200 students at the special school for late learners, where the average student age is 67, and the two-hour tutoring session offered every other Saturday is a special addition designed to give them extra help in their studies in math, English and other subjects.
The biweekly mentoring program, introduced under an initiative of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is also aimed at strengthening generational bonds between elders attending lifelong education institutions and middle school student mentors.
This year, 108 seniors and 104 middle schoolers signed up for the October-December program launched on a pilot basis and is expected to be expanded next year to include more schools.
The elderly students said the one-on-one mentor program is a way for them to review what they’ve learned on weekdays, which often go by too fast for them to thoroughly grasp the new concepts.
Yoon Jung-nyu, a participant in the mentorship program, shows her graduation photo from elementary school in 1967 on Nov. 18, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“As our tutors are middle school students, it’s helpful that they teach us the easy way that helped them understand the curriculum,” a senior student said, asking not to be identified.
Lee Bong-ye, 72, said the program was so popular that 16 people in her class of 32 wanted to join but only two were chosen.
“I have classmates who are waiting their turns for this opportunity,” she said. “I hope the government expands this program to support more seniors eager to learn.”
In South Korea, nearly 2 million people, or 4.5 percent, of adults over 18 showed a literacy rate equivalent to first or second graders in elementary school. This means they lack the reading, writing and counting skills needed in everyday life, according to a survey by the National Institute for Lifelong Education in 2020.
Jin Hyung Middle and High School, located in Jongno Ward, is one of 10 lifelong education institutions in the capital, which recognizes the graduates as having completed education in elementary, middle or high school.
As of April, 6,622 students were enrolled in such schools in Seoul, and the number has been increasing over the past few years, from 6,091 in 2021 and 6,593 in 2022, according to data from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
In a country where elementary and middle school education is compulsory by law, and high school education is offered for free, students in institutions stipulated under the Lifelong Education Act also receive free education.
A student in Jin Hyung Middle and High School in Jongno Ward fills out a worksheet with her mentor, with Korean pronunciations of English words scribbled on the paper, on Nov. 18, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Yoon Jung-nyu, 69, said she came to class after rinsing off the cabbage she soaked in brine the previous night in order to make kimchi. “I may not be top of my class, but I can’t relax until I’ve taken my class for the day.”
Yoon’s first and last graduation was at her elementary school in 1967.
“I was a factory worker since I was 18, and started my own textile mill when I was 23,” she said. Yoon hid her education background even from her closest friends, and people still make her out as a high school graduate.
“My neighbors always ask me where I’m going when I set out each morning with a huge backpack,” she said, laughing while recounting her memory of her new routine of going to school.
Another senior, who asked not to be identified for fear of being recognized by her friends, also said learning new things every day felt like “walking on cloud nine.”
“I still can’t forget the day I first read an English sign next to the subway station where I live,” she said.
The middle schoolers, most of whom it is their first time tutoring someone, were just as enthusiastic to cater to their students, often older than their grandparents.
Im Hyun-jun, 14, said he brought his own worksheet that he made last night, containing math concepts and custom-made problems to help his mentee.
Another mentor, Maeng Ji-eun, said she woke up two hours before class in order to watch online lectures to help explain things in an easier way for her mentee.
Yoon Sang-ki (R), 75, solves a math problem with the help of his mentor, Han Da-young, during the mentor tutor program on Nov. 18, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
A social studies teacher at the school, Choi Yoon-jung, said she always has a lot to learn from her students, many of whom gave up their studies to take care of their families during the country’s industrialization.
“Nobody sleeps during class, and all you hear during class time is the sound of jotting down notes with pencils,” Choi said.
As the two-hour session came to a close Saturday, Yoon Sang-ki beamed a smile while depicting his plans to share the worksheets from the mentoring program with his class Monday.
“I learned so much from the past two months, and I want to share what I’ve learned with my classmates,” said Yoon, whose goal is to attend university after completing middle and high school.
Han Da-young, his 15-year-old mentor, said although she has difficulty waking up so early in the morning, she feels rewarded when she helps her mentee step-by-step to solve a difficult math problem.
“I hope he continues his learning to finish high school,” she said. “I’m sure he can. He’s got the passion.”
(Yonhap)
