□ The Ministry of Education and the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) signed MOU with the National Council of Educational Research Training (NCERT)* on 15 June 2017 in New Delhi, India.

* Established in 1960 with the purpose of educational research and teacher training, NCERT is a textbook compilation institution under the Ministry of Education which supervises school curriculum and textbook guidelines across India.

 

□ The purpose of this MOU is to promote educational cooperation and content sharing between the two institutions, including academic exchanges and joint research activities, for the Understanding Korea Project.

○ The institutions agreed to take the part in developing curricula and textbooks, as well as cooperating in the fields of ICT, vocational education, physical education, and special education.

○ The Ministry of Education concluded MOU between AKS and public education institutions* in Korea in advance, so that AKS and NCERT could implement cooperative exchanges immediately upon the conclusion of the MOU.

*Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation, Korea Education Development Institute, Korea Education and Research Information Service, Korea Institute of Vocational Education and Training, National Institute of Special Education

 

□ This MOU is the first MOU between NCERT and an overseas institution, concluded based on close relationships the institutions have built through diverse exchanges over the years.

○ In November 2015, NCERT came to Korea and visited Korean education institutions, showing interest in educational cooperation with Korea.

○ In July 2016, AKS visited NCERT for a joint seminar on educational cooperation, where they discussed about exchanging views and concluding the MOU.

 

□ With the conclusion of the MOU, the Ministry of Education, AKS and NCERT will closely work together to increase contents about Korea in textbooks used in India.

○ In particular, through Indian curriculum and textbook analysis, efforts will be made to incorporate contents about the industrialization of Korea, the two countries’ ancient affiliates, and poems of Tagore which express Korea as “the Lamp of the East.”

○ From this year and on, short- and long-term projects between Korea and India for joint seminars and workshops as well as diverse activities to enhance textbooks will be implemented.

 

□ Park Chun-ran, Vice Minister of Education, indicated that “the conclusion of this MOU is very meaningful since NCERT compiles primary and secondary school textbooks in India,”

○ and added, “the Ministry of Education and AKS will put continuous efforts to correct false statements about Korea in foreign textbooks and expand cooperation with overseas textbook compilation institutions and publishing companies to incorporate more accurate representations of Korea.”

 

 

*Unofficial Translation