Special and Health Teachers Vaccinated in April... COVID-19 Vaccination for Grade 12 Students and Teachers Starting from Vacation (Comprehensive)

COVID-19 Vaccinations for Grade 12 Students and Teachers Starting Summer Break
Vaccination Status for Repeat and Nth-Time Students Undecided, "Further Discussion Needed"
Kindergarten, Daycare, and Grades 1-2 Teachers to Begin in June
EBS OnClass Progress Not Displayed on Older iPhones Due to Glitch

On the 18th, Jeong Jong-cheol, Vice Minister of Education, announced the "2021 School Operation Status Review Results and Future Support Plans" at the Government Sejong Complex.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education plans to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers in charge of 12th-grade students and the 12th-grade students themselves starting from the summer vacation.

On the 18th, Deputy Minister Jeong Jong-cheol of the Ministry of Education announced the "2021 School Operation Status Review Results and Future Support Plans" at the Government Sejong Complex.

Deputy Minister Jeong said, "Additional vaccination schedules are being announced, and we will consult with the quarantine authorities to ensure that 12th-grade students and their teachers can start vaccinations from the summer vacation in line with the admission schedule," adding, "Considering the public interest in university entrance, we will do our best to provide maximum opportunities for taking the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT)."

However, it appears that repeat test-takers or those taking the test multiple times (N-su students) will not be included in the priority vaccination group. Regarding this, Deputy Minister Jeong said, "We will discuss this further." Whether school administrative staff or educational public service workers such as kitchen staff will be eligible for vaccination is still undecided. A Ministry of Education official explained, "Since vaccine supply may fluctuate, we will negotiate to enable as many school staff as possible to receive the vaccine."

The Ministry of Education and quarantine authorities will begin COVID-19 vaccinations for 64,000 special and health teachers starting from the first week of April. Approximately 490,000 kindergarten, daycare, and 1st-2nd grade elementary school staff and childcare workers will receive vaccinations starting in June. Other school staff are expected to be vaccinated from early third quarter.

Jeong Jong-cheol, Vice Minister of Education, announced the '2021 School Operation Status Review Results and Future Support Plans' on the 18th at the Government Complex Sejong.

To periodically assess the COVID-19 risk in school dormitories, the Ministry of Education will pilot environmental specimen testing from March at 100 elementary, middle, high schools, and universities. Specimens will be collected from dormitory door handles, faucets, walls, switches, etc., to check for COVID-19 contamination. Quarantine guidelines will also be provided to minimize movement between dormitory floors, buildings, and rooms, and to strengthen inspections for students returning after going out.

Due to issues with the newly revamped EBS Online Class service, students and teachers have been experiencing inconveniences even three weeks after the start of the semester. Problems have been reported where progress rates are not being tracked on devices running older versions of iOS, such as iPhones or iPads.

Deputy Minister Jeong said, "There are issues with progress tracking on iPhone devices, and access is sometimes blocked because firewall settings mistakenly identify it as an intrusion. There are also difficulties such as teachers' voices not being heard. We are aware of these challenges on site," adding, "An emergency response system is in operation, and we are identifying daily inconveniences and issues to patch them overnight if necessary."

He continued, "Even if we strive for technical perfection, from the user perspective, various program errors are being reported and addressed. There may be some firewall issues or malfunctions on devices used by students. It is difficult to set a fixed timeline, but we will do our best to stabilize the system."

According to the Ministry of Education, as of the 17th, 4,418,000 students, or 74.3% of all students, have attended school. By school level, attendance rates were ▲Elementary school 77.1% ▲Middle school 62.7% ▲High school 72.3% ▲Special schools and others 88.6%. Kindergarten attendance was the highest at 92.1%. Among 6,242 schools that conducted remote classes from the semester start on the 2nd to the 12th, 62.2% (3,887 schools) operated more than 80% of their remote classes as real-time interactive sessions.

The Ministry of Education will conduct a basic academic proficiency assessment at the end of this month to address educational disparities caused by COVID-19. Through the basic academic diagnosis and correction system, students from 1st grade elementary to 1st grade high school will take the test.

Additionally, to support students lacking basic academic skills, cooperative classes with two instructors per class are being conducted in 2,500 schools, and the number of dedicated basic academic teachers has been increased from 70 last year to 180. To support cooperative classes for 1st to 3rd graders and to split overcrowded classes, 1,961 temporary teachers have been appointed. For 4th to 6th graders and middle school students, 'online tutors' are assigned at a ratio of one teacher per four students to provide supplementary basic academic guidance and counseling.

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