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It has nearly doubled its budget for Korean language education overseas this year amid growing demand for Korean as a second language, Yonhap reported.

According to the education ministry's 2021 plan, the country will spend 23.6 billion won (USD 20.8 million) this year to help expand the opening of Korean language classes overseas.

The earmarked budget nearly doubles the amount set aside a year earlier, according to the ministry.

Under the plan, the ministry has the goal of opening Korean language classes at 1,800 schools in 43 countries.

The budget will be mainly allocated for countries where demand for the Korean language is strong, such as Jordan, Belgium, Ecuador, Laos and Cambodia.

In addition, the country also plans to open training courses for would-be Korean language teachers in 14 countries in Southeast and Central Asian regions, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

The ministry will also increase its overseas dispatch of Korean teachers to 132 to those areas.

Additionally, the budget will also help facilitate the development of Korean language curriculum at overseas elementary and junior high schools, and finance the counseling services to schools seeking to open Korean language classes, the RoK's ministry noted.

Vietnam's schools will pilot the teaching of Korean and German as first foreign languages under a decision freshly issued by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), reported VNA.

The MoET explained that positive results have been seen in teaching Korean and German as second foreign languages in some provinces and cities and students' demand is also on the rise.

To help reduce the pressure on those who select Korean and German as their second foreign languages while also studying a first foreign language, the MoET has decided to temporarily elevate the two to the first foreign language category.

The move is also in keeping with framework agreements signed between Vietnam and the RoK and Germany on teaching their languages at Vietnamese schools.

The pilot programme will be rolled out in areas with great demand and which are able to ensure necessary conditions in terms of teachers, facilities, links between levels of education, and registration with the MoET./.

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