Teacher COVID-19 Confirmations Cause Substitute Staff Shortages... Ministry of Education Reports "Supply-Demand Imbalance in Some Areas"

Strong Complaints in Areas Difficult to Support Substitute Teachers
8,900 Fixed-Term Teachers Hired, 75,000-Person Workforce Pool Established
Ministry of Education "Teacher Organizations Also Oppose Use of Lecturers"

As the spread of COVID-19 intensifies, hybrid in-person and remote classes began on the morning of the 20th at Jangwi Middle School in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, where a teacher is conducting a remote math class for second-year students. 2021.12.20.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education has decided to hire and deploy 8,900 temporary teachers to overcrowded schools and classes to prepare for class disruptions caused by confirmed COVID-19 cases among teachers.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Education announced at a regular briefing that it will hire and deploy a total of 8,900 temporary teachers to overcrowded schools and classes within this month to prepare for teachers testing positive for COVID-19. A substitute teacher pool of approximately 75,000 people nationwide, including retired teachers, waiting appointees, and lecturers, has been established.

Despite the establishment of the substitute teacher pool, dissatisfaction is growing on the ground as substitute personnel are not being supported, leading to situations where teachers conduct remote classes from home during home treatment.

Regarding this, a Ministry of Education official said, "There are issues securing personnel due to supply-demand imbalances between residential and work areas," adding, "Some education support offices directly assign personnel, and in some metropolitan areas such as Gyeonggi-do, an additional 4,639 teachers beyond the quota are being deployed."

The Ministry of Education stated that it has been utilizing a substitute teacher system operated during emergencies to replace teaching staff, but recently, due to a surge in demand, imbalances have occurred.

A Ministry of Education official explained, "Among short-term substitute personnel, lecturers without teaching certificates but with certain qualifications are legally allowed to support classes; however, there is strong opposition from teacher organizations regarding the use of lecturers," adding, "Even when there is willingness to work, it is difficult to secure personnel if the location is far or if the condition is to work only 2 to 3 days."

The Ministry of Education hired 61,685 school-dedicated quarantine personnel for the first semester and plans to complete hiring up to the target number of 76,686 within this month.

The Ministry will also hire 1,303 temporary or additional health teachers for schools without health teachers or overcrowded schools, as well as 1,801 health teacher support personnel.

They are also promoting a plan to collaborate with universities and colleges to support hiring nursing and health-related students as quarantine personnel for kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools. After conducting a demand survey at schools by the 11th, they will connect nursing and health-related students from local education offices and universities. Students working as quarantine personnel will receive social service credits, and support will be provided for recognizing social service course credits at each university.

The Ministry of Education will also operate an emergency response team to support diagnostic testing based on school self-survey results. Local education offices have organized a total of 1,364 emergency response team members, including retired health teachers and quarantine experts.

The emergency response teams consist of about four members per team and determine the schools to be visited by mobile specimen collection teams when confirmed cases occur, then decide on diagnostic testing methods for the targeted schools. During normal times without confirmed cases, they monitor local COVID-19 occurrences, conduct training for school COVID-19 response personnel, and provide guidance on school COVID-19 response methods.

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