Gyeongnam Office of Education Holds Emergency Video Conference Ahead of New Semester

Normal School Attendance from March, Continued Use of iTalkTalk and Essential Educational Activities

1.1 Billion KRW Worth of Quarantine Supplies, Rapid Antigen Tests and Mobile PCR Services Provided

On the 17th, the Gyeongnam Office of Education held an emergency video conference for education policy managers ahead of the normal school attendance in March.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] On the 17th, the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education held an emergency video conference with department heads of the provincial education office and superintendents of education support offices.

The meeting was urgently convened to minimize anticipated operational burdens and difficulties in the field due to the new semester's quarantine and academic operation system transition, reduce school workload, and support students' normal attendance.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Education announced the "Omicron Response 2022 First Semester Quarantine and Academic Operation Plan," assuming normal attendance in March, and significantly transformed the quarantine and academic operation system to allow flexible responses considering infection status and characteristics by region and school.

The Gyeongnam Office of Education will deploy 5,060 personnel for school quarantine activities to strengthen the quarantine system before the March school opening.

It will support 1.1 billion KRW to pre-stock quarantine supplies in each school and promote and guide vaccination to increase vaccination rates among students and staff.

Quarantine manuals and rapid antigen test equipment will be distributed to schools, and mobile gene amplification (PCR) testing will be conducted on-site to support swift and safe responses without confusion when confirmed cases occur.

With normal attendance as the principle, using in-school infection rates and absenteeism as indicators, four attendance types will be provided as academic operation plans and standards: ▲normal attendance ▲full attendance with educational activity restrictions ▲partial attendance with partial remote classes ▲full remote classes.

Even in emergencies at each school or institution, essential educational activities will continue through a Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Using student smart devices distributed in the first round in February, classes will continue linked with the Gyeongnam-type future education support platform iTalkTalk, and smart textbooks will be utilized.

Superintendent Park Jong-hoon said, "In March, schools will face increased workloads as quarantine duties are added to academic operations more than ever," and added, "Let us do our best to support education in cooperation with departments and education support offices so that schools do not experience confusion."

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