Military Serviceman Can Get Credits to Learn Online Education

Serviceman members will be allowed to get credits by taking both certain military training programs and online education courses provided by universities or colleges.

[ClickPress, Wed Nov 08 2006] Enlisted soldiers out of universities or colleges will be able to take online courses for education credits during their mandatory military service from next March, the governing Uri Party said Monday.

The agreement was made during a policy coordination meeting between officials of the party and the Defense Ministry at the National Assembly in Seoul, a spokesman of the Uri Party said.

The two sides agreed to implement the measures after amending education and military conscription related laws.

Currently, the South Korean military allows only commissioned and non-commissioned officers to take university education courses.

According to a recent survey conducted by Rep. Kim Myung-ja of the Uri Party, some 82 percent of the nation's enlisted solders are from universities or colleges.

``Once passed, the proposed bill (for allowing soldiers to take college credits) will not only help soldiers develop themselves during their mandatory service, but will also shed a negative image of service conditions,'' said Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the party's spokesman.

Under the program, service members will be allowed to get credits by taking both certain military training programs and online education courses provided by universities or colleges.

The government has sought to offer various educational opportunities to build a ``culture of learning'' and secure quality manpower for defense since last month under a 15-year military reform plan.

To facilitate the learning program for soldiers, the government plans to spend 16.8 billion won ($15.8 million) to install 56,000 personal computers with wired and wireless LAN infrastructure in the country's military camps on a gradual basis by 2011. It hopes to set up an ``e-Learning Portal System.''

The plan calls for completing some 80 percent of the installation of IT infrastructure by the end of this year, thus providing 16 PCs to each military company. A company has about 150 service members.

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