Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Accelerates Preparations for New Semester in April

Jeollanam-do Office of Education (Photo by Jeonnam Office of Education)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced on the 27th that it has formed and started operating the ‘New Semester Opening Preparation Support Team’ led by Vice Superintendent Lee Ki-bong, assuming the school opening on the 6th of next month.

The support team is organized into 4 divisions and 7 teams: ▲Learning Support ▲Quarantine & Care ▲Student Life & Academy Support ▲Budget & Facility Support. Centered on the organized support team, they plan to thoroughly inspect preparations in each field such as school quarantine and hygiene, learning support, curriculum operation, and care.

The area receiving the most attention is the ‘school quarantine measures’ to ensure children’s health and safety. By the 3rd of next month, just before the semester starts, they will commission a professional quarantine company to conduct additional disinfection at all 952 schools in the province.

Additionally, they plan to secure quarantine supplies including 413,136 disposable masks, 1,445,976 cloth masks, 44,104 hand sanitizers, 11,520 thermometers, and 373 thermal cameras by right before the semester starts. In preparation for any emergency, temporary observation rooms will also be set up in all 952 schools.

To minimize learning loss due to prolonged school closures, they will actively promote managed remote classes equivalent to regular classes. For elementary and middle schools, the e-Hakseupter platform will be used, and for high schools, the EBS Online Class is strongly encouraged. For the 5,686 students, accounting for 3% of the total, who are excluded from remote education, 400 million KRW will be provided for communication expenses.

Reflecting local conditions and user demands sufficiently, they will solidify the operation of emergency care classrooms, prioritize the supply of quarantine supplies to ensure safety, and strengthen infection prevention education such as safety rules.

In particular, to reinforce social distancing, they strongly recommend academies and private tutoring institutes to close temporarily, and plan to secure 627 million KRW in the supplementary budget to support quarantine expenses and the purchase of quarantine supplies.

An official from the Provincial Office of Education said, “Considering the current infection trend, we cannot guarantee that the semester will start on the 6th of next month, but for now, we will make thorough preparations so that students can study safely assuming the semester opens.”

In addition, they plan to prepare student life guidance measures after the semester starts, maintain an emergency contact and reporting system in case of incidents, continuously guide students to refrain from using multi-use facilities after school, comply with safety rules, and practice social distancing.

Superintendent Jang Seok-woong said, “The issue is not when to start the semester, but how safely we can protect our children after the semester begins,” and urged, “Since the semester cannot be postponed indefinitely, please thoroughly prepare each area so that the semester opening on April 6th can proceed without any setbacks.”

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