The government has earmarked 56-point-eight billion won of next year’s budget toward supporting children and youths of multicultural families. That’s more than double compared to this year. 

The gender equality and family ministry said Tuesday that the move is aimed at narrowing the education gap of children and teens from such families and to help them grow as global talents. 

In line with the government’s key task of strengthening support systems tailored for multicultural families’ children, the family ministry plans to spend 16-point-eight billion won in providing counseling for children of low-income multicultural families and covering fees related to educational activities, including purchasing books and using libraries. 

For mentoring projects aimed at helping students of multicultural families in terms of school adjustment, the ministry will inject 15-point-eight billion, up more than this year’s nearly nine billion won, while expanding the number of students who’ll be eligible to receive such support from four-thousand to eight-thousand. 

The ministry added that it will expand the number of centers that help children of multicultural families in their studies before they enter elementary school and in basic learning in primary grades from 138 to 168 next year.