Vivek Sharma
New Delhi:Year 2024 is being celebrated as a “Year of Cooperation” in the field of Taekwondo in India.
Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI) in partnership with Delhi Taekwondo Association,this year will come up with multiple competitions and promotional activities in the schools of Delhi.
These activities will focus on cultivating skillset,developing confidence thus inspiring students for representing India in the field of sport in future.
Additionally,this year KCCI will also work with local Taekwondo associations in major cities such as Mumbai and Pune to impart skill improvement training sessions for local instructors.
This will further enable more schools in the country to introduce Taekwondo to their students in the future.
The rise in the demand of learning Taekwondo has led to these initiatives.The demand can be felt by comparing last year students enrollment for Taekwondo classes which has doubled this year.
In 2023,there were 1,530 students enrolled in 31 schools, which has reached to 3,536 students enrolled in 47 local schools of Delhi this year.
Likewise,the demand of learning Korean language across India has increased tremendously.There has been a significant increase in the number of students enrolled in Korean language classes,which grew from 1,535 in 20 schools last year to 2,572 students in 32 schools this year.
Also,KCCI distributed 2,000 newly designed Korean language textbooks developed by National Institute of Korean Language which were distributed to students at 32 local secondary schools.
A local researcher in the region has participated as a co-author, and the main cover of the textbook was selected based on a survey of 1,500 Indian students.
Notably,the textbook features illustrations showcasing Indian elements such as ‘Naan’,’Samosa’, and ‘Mojari’. Learning language demand surprised all when 93rd Korean Language Proficiency Test was organised.
KCCI simultaneously organized the test at three regions in India–New Delhi,Chennai and Imphal,Manipur and the centre had to announce that the Korean Language Proficiency Test will be conducted one more time this year in October.
This announcement was due to the continuous inquiries regarding TOPIK Test, which came even after the closure of application deadline for the April batch.
980 students from Delhi (499 students for TOPIK I,481 students for TOPIK II),174 students from Chennai (86 students for TOPIK I,88 students for TOPIK II), and 94 students from Manipur (51 students for TOPIK I, 43 students for TOPIK II) applied for the test.
These students on Sunday simultaneously took part in the examination that was held at Ramjas College in Delhi University, Hindustan Institute of Technology & Science in Chennai and Manipur University in Imphal.
Hwang Il Yong,Director of Korean Cultural Centre India said,“Korean is one of the fastest-growing foreign languages in India, and the demand to study the language has constantly been on the rise.
Both Taekwondo and Korean language classes in Indian schools will further expand opportunities for students to experience Korean culture and will become a starting point for achieving their dreams.
We will continue to strive for the steady growth of cultural exchanges between Korea and India.”Mr Hwang added.
