Park Chandae "Rapid Antigen Test Kits Should Be Supported from Kindergarten to High School Students"

"Free Rapid Antigen Test Kits Provided, Now Including Middle and High School Students Following Kindergarten and Elementary Students"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 11th, Park Chan-dae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, argued that the government should prepare for the new semester by providing free COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits not only to kindergarten and elementary school students but also to middle and high school students, regarding the government's decision to distribute free rapid antigen test kits to vulnerable groups such as children.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park, the ruling party's secretary of the National Assembly's Education Committee, wrote on Facebook that "Today, the Ministry of Education also announced plans to provide free rapid antigen test kits to 3.3 million kindergarten and elementary school students," emphasizing that "this should not end here."

He stated, "Support must be extended to middle and high school students as well," adding, "As the secretary of the Education Committee, I will work to include this in the supplementary budget currently under review in the National Assembly so that diagnostic kits can be provided to all students from kindergarten through high school."

On the same day, the Ministry of Education announced that it is consulting with metropolitan and provincial offices of education on plans to distribute free rapid antigen test kits to kindergarten and elementary school students. This follows the government's announcement the previous day to distribute free rapid antigen test kits starting from the 21st to vulnerable facilities such as daycare centers and elderly welfare facilities.

The Democratic Party plans to include budgets for quarantine measures such as living support expenses for home treatment patients and the provision of self-diagnostic kits in the supplementary budget to be processed this month.

On the same day, Yoon Ho-jung, the floor leader, stated at the headquarters meeting of the election countermeasures committee held at the Seoul Democratic Party office in the morning, "We plan to include a budget in the supplementary budget to provide free self-diagnostic kits to about 6 million people, including low-income groups, people with disabilities, infants and workers at daycare centers," emphasizing, "Since speed is the key to the crisis response supplementary budget, we will do our best to process it by the 14th, even if it means giving up the weekend and staying up all night."

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