Schools in Chaos Ahead of New Semester... Survey on 'Remote Classes vs. In-Person Attendance'

Flexible Academic Operations Allowed but Confusion at Schools
Seeking Parents' Opinions on Attendance Plans
In-School Infection Rate in Seoul Surges in 3rd Week of February
Youth Confirmed Cases 27.6%, Up 2.6%p from Previous Week

Due to the government's strengthened social distancing measures, full in-person attendance has been suspended at elementary, middle, and high schools in the metropolitan area, as well as at oversized and overcrowded schools in non-metropolitan areas. On the morning of the 20th, remote classes for second-year students were being conducted at Jangwi Middle School in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. 2021. 12. 20

[Asia Economy Reporter Jinju Han] #A parent in their 40s living in Gyeonggi-do, Mr. A, recently received a notice from the school informing them to choose among 'remote classes, partial attendance, or full attendance.' The school stated, "Although the education office guidelines have not yet been issued, this is a proactive measure to gather opinions." Feeling sorry that children have not been able to attend proper classes for two years, Mr. A chose 'daily attendance.'

Although the Ministry of Education allowed full remote classes or shortened classes for two weeks after the March semester started, confusion is increasing at schools that hold discretionary power. With the rise in confirmed cases among teenagers and frequent infections within schools, schools are struggling between normal attendance and remote classes.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 23rd, the number of confirmed student cases in the past week (14th?20th) was 5,037, a decrease of 727 compared to the previous week. Although the number of confirmed cases slowed compared to the period (7th?13th) when cases nearly doubled, the rate of in-school infections increased by 12.2%. The infection route proportions were highest in family infections (26.3%), followed by in-school infections (21.1%), and out-of-school infections (11.5%).

As of the third week of February, the proportion of confirmed cases among youths aged 18 and under was 27.6% of the national confirmed cases, an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared to the previous week.

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Eun-hye said at a meeting with parents the day before, "The Omicron variant virus spreads rapidly and the scale of confirmed cases is large, so schools face the burden of changing their response methods and systems," adding, "If schools can properly establish an Omicron response system throughout March, we will be able to overcome this crisis again."

Because the attendance criteria were left to school autonomy, the burden on schools inevitably increases. A representative from the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations said, "Even if schools follow the confirmed case and attendance suspension rate criteria set by the Ministry of Education's academic operation plan, many schools are gathering parents' opinions to prepare for possible large-scale confirmed cases," adding, "If schools decide on remote classes independently, complaints due to differences with neighboring schools will inevitably increase, but the current clear guideline is just 'handle it yourselves.'"

To alleviate the burden of school quarantine, the Ministry of Education is providing rapid antigen test kits for the entire month of March (9 kits) to allow proactive testing twice a week before attendance. However, many parents feel burdened by the testing itself. One school issued a notice stating that students who do not take the rapid antigen test will be sent home after contacting parents, and only those who submit a negative test result can return to school, which drew criticism from parents. Parent organizations such as the Parents' Union are also holding a press conference at the National Assembly on the same day, urging the suspension of 'twice-weekly proactive testing before attendance.'

Deputy Prime Minister Yoo said, "We plan to proceed by actively requesting cooperation so that proactive testing using test kits does not become a burden for parents and students, making participation voluntary rather than mandatory."

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