"Emergency Care 3 Hours Filled Only with YouTube"... High Demand but Struggling to Pass Time

56,000 Apply for Seoul Morning and Afternoon Care
Afternoon Staff Shortage Filled by Volunteers
Schools Blame Staffing, Parents Left Frustrated

As social distancing level 4 is applied, schools in Seoul have switched to remote classes. On the morning of the 14th, second-grade students are attending online classes in an emergency care classroom at an elementary school in Seoul. July 14, 2021. (This photo is unrelated to the article content)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] "My second grader spent the entire 3-hour afternoon emergency care watching YouTube's Real Story Expedition."

As schools in the metropolitan area switch to remote classes, working parents are frustrated that their children are left unattended even after sending them to emergency care. Due to the sudden escalation to Level 4, demand for care has surged, but since staffing is done with low-paid 'volunteer positions,' it has effectively become just a way to pass the time.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 19th, last week, 34,212 students participated in morning emergency care and 21,805 in afternoon care at 603 elementary schools in Seoul. The number of first and second graders in Seoul is about 128,000, with an estimated 26.6% and 16.9% participating in care respectively.

Emergency care is operated by accepting applications from working and low-income families of first and second graders, with participation limited to 10 students per classroom due to social distancing. In many cases, more than 90 students gather at each school. Since fourth to sixth graders also have remote classes in the afternoon, due to limitations in staff and space, the demand cannot be fully met.

Morning care involves teachers and remote class assistants guiding the children, but the afternoon care situation is different. Afternoon care primarily assigns care specialists who are educational public officials hired by the education office, and any shortage is supplemented by the schools, which mostly fill these positions with volunteers. Volunteer positions have no separate qualification criteria and pay about 25,000 won for 3 hours. Since the decision to switch to remote classes was finalized only 6 days before implementation and with the vacation period approaching, most schools appoint volunteers citing budget reasons instead of hiring.

A parent in their 40s, Mr. A, said, "My child came home watching TV programs I had never seen them watch before, so I protested to the school, but I was told, 'You shouldn't expect quality lessons in emergency care. If watching YouTube is uncomfortable, don't send them.' It was so absurd," and added, "Since there is no one to take care of them, we send them to school, but the school just leaves the kids there, so parents have no choice but to send them to academies somehow."

When schools operate care classrooms only formally, children tend to avoid the care classrooms themselves. Because of this, working families have no choice but to send their children to 2 to 3 academies in the afternoon until they finish work. Parent B said, "When sending children to care, we feel the teachers' scrutiny, and with COVID-19 worsening, we fear that even academies might close." Another parent, C, said, "Private elementary schools have better quality remote classes and often hold classes even in the afternoon, so their popularity has increased since COVID-19."

A Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official said, "When care demand suddenly increases, it is difficult to separately hire care specialists, so some schools deploy volunteers due to staffing issues. At Level 4, face-to-face contact is impossible, so aside from showing EBS videos, there are significant restrictions on care activities."

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