Normal School Attendance Resumes This March... Gyeongnam Office of Education Announces Academic Operations and Quarantine Guidelines in Response to Omicron

Support for Rapid Antigen Testing Equipment and Installation of On-site PCR Diagnostic Laboratories

Gyeongnam Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education announced on the 7th the academic operation plan and quarantine guidelines for the new semester in March in response to the rapid increase of Omicron cases.

The Gyeongnam Office of Education will switch the academic operation system to allow flexible responses by applying school unit-based indicators, and will operate academics flexibly considering the characteristics of school size, school level, grade, and class.

While adhering to the principle of normal attendance after March, the school will flexibly respond according to the criteria for switching attendance types by comprehensively and stepwise considering the school unit indicators of a 3% new confirmed case rate among enrolled students and a 15% attendance suspension rate (confirmed + quarantine) among enrolled students.

The attendance types are classified as normal attendance, full attendance + (non)curricular activity restrictions, adjustment of attendance numbers, and full remote classes. Normal attendance is maintained as long as the school does not exceed the set criteria.

If the criteria are exceeded, the school will switch to full attendance + (non)educational activity restrictions, partial attendance and partial remote classes through density adjustment, or full remote classes.

The school unit indicator criteria reflect the characteristics by school level, grade, school size, and education support office, allowing regions and schools to autonomously adjust them.

High schools decide attendance in consultation with the provincial office of education, and elementary and middle schools decide with the education support office, but kindergartens, grades 1 and 2 of elementary school, special schools and classes, care centers, and small-scale or rural schools maintain the principle of daily attendance.

The Gyeongnam Office of Education stated that it is preparing detailed guidelines and plans for flexible academic operation while preparing for normal attendance.

Considering regional and school conditions, securing student safety, and minimizing learning loss, class hours will be flexibly adjusted.

The Gyeongnam Office of Education will operate an intensive quarantine inspection period from February 14 to March 11, covering one month before and after the start of the semester.

An intensive quarantine inspection team composed of senior officials from the provincial office of education and quarantine officers from city and county education support offices will inspect school sites.

It plans to support schools with 1 billion KRW for purchasing quarantine supplies such as masks and hand sanitizers, and will deploy 5,060 school quarantine personnel, an increase of 416 from last year.

Vaccination of students will continue to be encouraged, and if confirmed cases occur within schools, the school will classify contacts independently according to the standards presented by the quarantine authorities.

Using the COVID-19 rapid response team, support will be provided at school sites through rapid antigen tests or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

With a reserve fund of 300 million KRW from the provincial office of education, 120,000 rapid antigen test kits covering about 20% of all students and staff will be stocked at the office of education and education support offices for use as needed.

For unvaccinated young children and elementary students, about 10% additional kits will be stocked.

It plans to additionally purchase and support 3.7 million rapid antigen test kits for students and staff of kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools, usable twice a week for four weeks.

A mobile on-site PCR diagnostic testing room will be installed to promptly visit schools where confirmed cases occur to block further spread, and a mobile specimen collection team will also be operated concurrently.

Superintendent Park Jong-hoon said, “With the rapid increase of Omicron cases, voices of concern are rising within the educational community. We will prepare accurate and swift response measures to ensure safe and normal educational activities, thoroughly protecting the safety and learning of children.”

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