Ministry of Education to Announce Youth Quarantine Pass Application Plan on the 31st

Parents and Youth Protest, Improvement Plans Underway
Possibility of One-Month Grace Period or Guidance Phase Applied

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education and quarantine authorities will announce improvement measures related to the youth quarantine pass (vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system) on the 31st.

On the 30th, a Ministry of Education official stated at the regular briefing for the press corps, "We are preparing supplementary measures for the quarantine pass and are striving to announce them within the year." There is a possibility that they will announce a plan to delay the application timing of the youth quarantine pass.

The government announced that starting from February next year, the quarantine pass would be applied to youths aged 18 and under at academies, reading rooms, and study cafes, but parents, youths, and the academy industry strongly opposed this.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education stated that it will announce within the year a plan to adjust the timing and scope through discussions with related ministries and the industry. The Ministry of Education and related ministries have formed an official consultative body with the Academy Federation to discuss improvement measures related to academy vaccination and the quarantine pass, and it is known that the academy industry has requested a postponement of the implementation schedule.

The Democratic Party of Korea conveyed at the party-government meeting the day before that a sufficient grace period is necessary regarding the implementation timing of the youth quarantine pass scheduled to be applied from February next year.

As of 0:00 on the 30th, the first-dose vaccination rate for youths aged 12 to 17 is 73.0%, and the second-dose completion rate is 49.1%. The second-dose vaccination rate for those aged 16 to 17 is 71.8%, but for those aged 12 to 15, it is only 38.0%.

During the recent week (December 23 to 29), the average daily number of confirmed student cases nationwide in kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools was 731.3, which is 226.8 fewer than the previous week (9581).

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education from the 24th to the 28th targeting a total of 330 general and vocational colleges, among the 291 schools that responded, 269 are operating winter seasonal semesters. Among these, 66.1% are conducting classes online, 28.1% are conducting face-to-face classes, and 5.8% are operating a mix of face-to-face and online classes.

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