Ministry of Education: "In the 2nd Semester, 10 Students per Classroom for Elementary Care and Continuous Lunch Provision"

Priority Placement for Children of Dual-Income Families in Lower Grades
Repeated Guidance to Education Offices on Providing Regular Meals

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Visits Seoul Elementary School Care Classroom
"Cooperating with City and Provincial Education Offices to Ensure No Shortage in Care Budget"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hae visited an elementary school in Guro-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 27th and spoke with students participating in the after-school care program. (Provided by the Ministry of Education)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] As schools in the Seoul metropolitan area switch entirely to remote classes, the Ministry of Education announced on the 27th that it has prepared the "2nd Semester Elementary Care Operation Plan" to address the care service gap.

First, the plan aims to proactively respond to additional demand by pre-assessing care needs and managing waiting lists for elementary schools in the metropolitan area. Considering the COVID-19 situation, priority will be given to children from dual-income, low-income, single-parent families, and medical staff, and if the demand exceeds the scope, dual-income families with lower-grade students will be prioritized.

To distribute students with about 10 per classroom, schools have been requested to secure space within their premises. They were guided to utilize on-campus spaces such as libraries, computer rooms, and special classrooms, assigning lower-grade students primarily to care classrooms and actively using special rooms like libraries for upper-grade students. The use of internal personnel pools such as after-school instructors and retired teachers will be encouraged to assist with operations like temperature checks and disinfection.

Establishment of 'Care Support Center' to Reflect Parents' Requests
Deputy Prime Minister Yoo: "We will alleviate parents' anxiety about care"

Additionally, schools that have fully transitioned to remote classes are emphasized to continuously provide lunch to students participating in care services. A senior official from the Ministry of Education stated, "Meal service for care students is, in principle, to be provided through school meals," adding, "Although some schools temporarily provide packed lunches to care students due to urgent circumstances, the education offices have been repeatedly instructed to provide regular meals as the basic policy."

The Ministry of Education also decided to establish a "Care Support Center" on its website to collect care-related difficulties from schools and reflect parents' requests.

The Ministry will continuously monitor the execution status to ensure that the budget for elementary care classrooms in the 2nd semester is secured without issues and will work with metropolitan and provincial education offices to use any expected unspent or unused funds for care operations.

Meanwhile, on the morning of the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye visited an elementary school in Guro-gu, Seoul, to inspect the operation site of the 2nd semester elementary care. Deputy Prime Minister Yoo said, "We will alleviate parents' anxiety about care and cooperate with metropolitan and provincial education offices to ensure there is no shortage of care budget," and urged, "Please prepare meticulously and carefully for the stable operation of elementary care in the 2nd semester."

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