華僑學校在韓國的法律地位變化與生存策略(一九七八至二一)

The Legal Status and Survival Strategies of Overseas Chinese Schools in Korea (1978-2010)

韓國華僑學校教育已有一百多年的歷史，華僑學校不但是在韓國當地最早設立的外國人學校，亦是目前數量最多的外國人學校。一九七○年代前，華僑學校在韓國並未編入法律體系中。一九七○年代，華僑學校並非是以學校而是以「外國人團體」資格，首次取得法律上的合法地位。一九九○年代末期，韓國陷入金融風暴與經濟危機，政府當局為吸引外國投資者，放寬對外國人的限制，取消「外國人團體」登記規定，致使韓國華僑學校的法律地位，由過去的「外國人團體」，轉變為「各種學校」。這是華僑學校首次在韓國取得「學校」的法律地位。本稿主要探討韓國華僑學校的法律地位變化與其對華僑學校帶來的影響，並說明華僑學校面臨的困境與生存策略。

With a history that can be traced back for more than a century, overseas Chinese schools are not only the earliest but also currently the most common foreign schools in Korea. Before the 1970s, these schools were not governed by the laws of Korea. It is only in the 1970s that overseas Chinese schools were legally recognized, not as schools but as ”foreign organizations”. Due to the financial and economic crisis at the end of the 1990s, the Korean Government loosened its restrictions on foreigners and rescinded the registration rules for ”foreign organizations” in the hope to attract more foreign investors, changing the legal status of overseas Chinese schools from ”foreign organizations” to ”schools of varied types”. As a result, overseas Chinese schools obtained their legal status as ”schools” in Korea for the very first time. In this paper, the change of legal status of overseas Chinese schools in Korea and its influences on the schools will be investigated, along with a discussion on the dilemma faced by the schools and their survival strategies.