Nationwide All Kindergartens, Elementary, Middle, and High Schools Face Unprecedented '3-Week School Opening Delay' (Comprehensive)

Online Content and Preview Assignments Provided... Emergency Care Until 5 PM
School Mask Stockpiles Normalized by Second Week... Closure for Hagwons and Remote Classes Recommended for Universities

On the 3rd, amid growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, students at Bongeun Elementary School in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are attending school wearing masks. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the start of the school year for all kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide has been postponed by an additional two weeks. As a result, the new semester will begin on the 23rd of this month, delayed by a total of three weeks.

On the afternoon of the 2nd, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye held an emergency briefing at the Government Seoul Office and announced, "Following the one-week postponement of school openings nationwide on the 23rd of last month, we are now extending the delay by an additional two weeks." This measure is interpreted as a precaution against the possibility of further confirmed cases, including cluster infections within schools, as confirmed cases continue to surge not only among students but also among infants and toddlers.

The government's first nationwide school closure order was the initial one-week postponement on the 23rd of last month, but the closure period has now been extended from the original one week (5 days) to three weeks (15 days), marking an unprecedented situation.

This additional postponement was decided at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Education explained that consultations were held with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Council of Superintendents of Education, and infectious disease experts.

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo stated, "The next two weeks are critical to curbing the increase in COVID-19 cases, and we believe at least one more week is needed to confirm whether the environment is safe for students to learn."

The Ministry of Education has also prepared measures to support student learning and guide daily life during the postponed period. Each school will complete homeroom teacher assignments and curriculum planning announcements within this week, and provide students with free access to online content such as the digital textbook platform 'e-Hakseupteo' and EBS video lectures, enabling autonomous learning at home.

Starting from the second week of March, online classrooms will be opened to assign preview tasks and provide learning feedback, allowing students to preview textbooks online, including video materials and evaluation questions.

During the additional postponement period, emergency care classrooms at kindergartens and elementary schools will operate normally. Emergency care is generally provided from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The education authorities plan to conduct an additional survey on emergency care demand starting from the 3rd.

To secure the required number of school days, schools will reduce summer and winter vacations by the total three weeks of the delayed start. If closures extend beyond three weeks, the legally mandated number of school days will be reduced accordingly.

The Ministry of Education plans to reiterate recommendations for academies to close during this period. Local governments will participate in joint on-site inspections of academies conducted by the Ministry of Education and metropolitan/provincial education offices to strengthen monitoring.

Furthermore, the Ministry will continuously consult with related ministries to actively support various COVID-19 response economic policies, including providing disinfection and sterilization expenses to ensure student safety when academies reopen after closure, as well as assisting small-scale academies struggling due to prolonged closures.

The Ministry of Education also announced plans to strengthen inter-ministerial cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and others to actively support flexible work arrangements to enable 'family care' that parents may require.

For universities that have already decided to postpone the start of the semester by about one to two weeks, the Ministry recommends conducting remote classes, assignments, and other forms of home-based learning until the situation stabilizes. Specific teaching methods will be autonomously determined by each university based on consultations with faculty and students, and administrative measures necessary for academic operations will be implemented first by the universities, with retroactive application through subsequent amendments to academic regulations.

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo said, "Although 5.8 million masks stockpiled in schools nationwide were supplied to the general public, all masks will be returned in kind to each school by the second week of March," and urged, "We ask the public to share the burden and participate in crisis management, from adhering to basic hygiene rules to cooperating with related agencies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.