Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education's Incompatible 'Emergency Care and Remote Class Guidelines'... Teachers' Union Calls for Withdrawal with 'Solidarity Signature'

Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education Issues Protection Guidelines for 'Emergency Care Students' in Remote Classrooms
Teachers' Union: "'Echo Effect' Prevents Video Classes... Field Voices Ignored"

The photo shows remote classes taking place at Hwarang Elementary School in Nowon-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, which has switched all school classes to remote learning, is facing collective opposition from teachers who cannot manage both remote classes and emergency care in elementary school classrooms and are demanding countermeasures.

In particular, the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education is forcing interactive classes for all subjects and all sessions for all grades in elementary schools, leading to a situation where teachers' unions from other cities and provinces are joining solidarity signature campaigns demanding the withdrawal of this policy.

According to the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education on the 19th, amid the COVID-19 crisis, all school classes in the Daegu area have been conducted via interactive video conferencing (Zoom) since January 28 and will continue until the end of February. In elementary schools, most students finish their winter vacation this week, and the academic schedule starts next week, immediately switching to remote classes.

The problem is how to protect 'emergency care' students who cannot participate in remote classes alone at home while smoothly conducting remote classes.

On-site homeroom teachers raise their voices, saying that conditions are not set up to simultaneously conduct remote classes via video conferencing and educate emergency care students in the classroom.

If emergency care students individually use tablet PCs, the 'howling' (echo) phenomenon makes it impossible to properly conduct video classes, making it difficult to carry out all subjects and class times normally. Additionally, teachers complain that they suffer from triple hardships, including being responsible for disinfection inside the classroom.

Despite these on-site circumstances, the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education sent an official letter to all elementary schools before the start of the semester, demanding that "students who do not participate in interactive classes must attend school and participate in interactive classes with homeroom and subject teachers in the classroom," forcing compliance.

In this regard, the Daegu Teachers' Union is opposing this as a "disregard for voices from the field," and teachers' unions from other regions such as Daejeon, Jeonbuk, and Incheon are joining solidarity signature campaigns to pressure the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education.

Lee Bo-mi, chairperson of the Daegu Teachers' Union, said, "Other local education offices are alleviating homeroom teachers' difficulties by utilizing 'remote support helpers,'" adding, "Even without additional budgets, teachers should be guaranteed autonomy in classes using various content such as E-Hakseupter and YouTube starting now."

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