President Lee Myung-bak emphasized on Tuesday the importance of vocational education in deciding the country's future.
Attending a ceremony marking the opening of 21 special high schools aimed at providing practical vocational training, the Korean President said these "Meister" high schools will foster a workforce with both practical skills and book learning who have also acquired creative and progressive expertise.
These state-funded "Meister" high schools, modeled after job training schools in Germany, are to teach students to develop expertise in particular fields including shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, semiconductors and medical equipment.
Such an idea was brought on due to excessive spending on private tutoring in Korea totaling close to 19 billion US dollars last year alone.
Under the principle that blindly pushing students into private tutoring classes and university will eventually worsen the problem of youth unemployment that the country is currently facing, the government plans to fully support the successful implementation of the "Meister" schools.
Over the last two decades, the college entrance rate in Korea has remained quite high reaching 84 percent recently.
The Presidential Office explains this is part of the government's efforts aimed at helping those without college degrees to make a decent living.
Kang Che-ry, Arirang News.
MAR 02, 2010
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Friday, SEP 03, 2010, (KST) 
