Even with Priority Vaccination for Teachers and 3rd Year High School Students... What About Overcrowded Classes Amid School Reopening Expansion?

Vaccination for Staff and 3rd Year High School Students During Vacation
56% of Classes in the Capital Area Have 25 or More Students
Strong Demand to Reduce Number of Students per Class

On the afternoon of the 3rd, students living in dormitories at Seoul Robot High School in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are trying out COVID-19 self-test kits. From the 4th until the 23rd of next month, Seoul City will conduct a pilot project introducing self-test kits at 19 dormitory schools over seven weeks. The pilot project targets 5,458 students and staff from 19 dormitory schools that requested the introduction of self-test kits. Participants will undergo self-testing with the kits twice a week upon entering and leaving the dormitories. 2021.06.03 Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education relaxed the classroom density standard for social distancing level 2 to two-thirds earlier this month, and some schools began full in-person classes starting from the 7th. The number of schools expanding in-person attendance in the metropolitan area is increasing.

The Ministry of Education plans to promote vaccination with vaccines that have short intervals such as Pfizer and Moderna for kindergarten and daycare teachers, as well as first and second grade elementary school teachers and childcare staff during the summer vacation until August. Vaccinations will also be conducted for the remaining elementary, middle, and high school teachers during the summer vacation, aiming to complete them within this period.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has piloted the use of self-testing kits in schools with dormitories, and after a cluster infection involving 35 third-year high school students in Gangbuk-gu, mobile PCR tests were conducted for nearby schools.

The Ministry of Education will collect opinions on full in-person classes and strengthened quarantine measures through surveys of parents, students, and teachers by the 9th, and will announce the policy to expand attendance for the second semester by mid-month.

On the 3rd, the first mock test of the 2022 College Scholastic Ability Test, conducted under the integrated liberal arts and sciences system, was held at Yeouido Girls' High School in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where students were studying before the exam started.

However, except for third-year high school students, there is no vaccination plan for other students, and with cluster infections occurring in various places, demands to reduce the number of students per class are increasing.

According to the Ministry of Education, among 103,188 classes in the metropolitan area, 57,675 classes have 25 or more students, accounting for 55.9%. Classrooms with more than 30 students account for 8.4% of all elementary, middle, and high school classes. The Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations has urged the National Assembly's Education Committee to amend related laws to reduce the number of students per class to 20 or fewer.

As of the 7th, over 37,200 people have agreed to a National Assembly petition demanding the amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to specify a "20-student limit per class." The Federation stated, "Reducing the number of students per class is absolutely necessary to ensure student safety from infectious diseases and to guarantee in-person classes," adding, "In the metropolitan area, in-person classes are conducted at less than half the rate compared to other regions with fewer overcrowded classes, raising concerns about learning loss."

A Ministry of Education official explained, "Resolving overcrowded classes is a matter that must be comprehensively considered with class establishment and expansion, financial demands, and teacher supply and demand," and added, "In the long term, we are preparing improvement measures with metropolitan and provincial offices of education for overcrowded classes in new towns."

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