If e-HakSseupTeo and EBS Stop, Replace with 'Reading Books'?... Concern Over 4 Million Students' Learning Gap in Elementary, Middle, and High Schools

Eun-Hye Yoo, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Concerns are rising over learning gaps as connection errors continue to occur on the learning management systems (LMS) operated by the education authorities, EBS Online Class and e-Hakseupter.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 15th, the number of students who will start online school tomorrow (16th) is 904,634 for 1st and 2nd-year high school students, 898,610 for 1st and 2nd-year middle school students, and 1,323,771 for 4th to 6th-grade elementary students, totaling 3,127,015. Including the 858,006 middle school 3rd-year and high school 3rd-year students who already started online school on the 9th, the number of simultaneous users including teachers is expected to reach 4 million.

Even though only 3rd-year middle and high school students have been attending classes online until the 14th, connection delays and server errors occurred, raising concerns that if all 3.97 million students log in at once, accessing the LMS itself will become difficult. In particular, if connection errors occur on EBS Online Class and e-Hakseupter, classes cannot be conducted on time, and since substitute classes are suddenly held, the quality of learning is inevitably expected to decline.

An official from the Ministry of Education explained, "If problems occur in content-provided classes, teachers may assign separate tasks for students to study and submit afterward," adding, "Attendance is confirmed using group chat rooms on KakaoTalk at the site, and if connection delays occur, students are guided to read books or complete assignments."

If students fail to attend due to connection delays on EBS Online Class and e-Hakseupter, they can notify their homeroom or subject teachers and receive attendance recognition within a week through alternative learning.

On the 30th of last month, just before the government was about to announce its stance on the opening of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, a classroom at Yeongpung Elementary School in Songpa-gu, Seoul was empty. Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

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The Ministry of Education plans to make extensive preparations to prevent further connection errors on EBS Online Class and e-Hakseupter. They will expand servers and prioritize implementing login distribution measures.

EBS Online Class conducted a system stress test from 4 p.m. on the 14th to prepare for online school, based on usage patterns of students and teachers. They plan to test whether the system can withstand simultaneous access by over 3 million users. Additionally, since online class access is possible through individual class URL addresses, students were informed in advance to use those URLs.

To prevent connection delays, the previous login method through two gates will be distributed by direct access to 100 servers. The system will switch from centralized login to school-based distributed login. Infrastructure to improve the speed of teachers uploading materials will also be expanded, and the usage method will change from providing 10 to 20 items in a bundle to offering them by lecture units.

e-Hakseupter, operated by the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), is mainly expected to be used by elementary students. Similarly, to prevent connection errors online, the existing regional systems will be distributed and infrastructure expanded. The existing system was divided into seven regions to withstand an increase in users by seven times, and the authentication servers were expanded from five to twelve regions to prepare for emergencies.

As of the 13th, 282,000 applicants have requested smart device rentals, and the Ministry announced that rentals will be completed before the start of school. On the afternoon of the 14th, about 13,000 applicants from Seoul and Gyeonggi education offices had not yet received smart devices.

Vice Minister of Education Park Baek-beom said, "There are not many countries that implement remote education equivalent to regular classes like Korea," adding, "Since this is an adaptation period, we will prepare as much as possible to be ready for any unforeseen circumstances."

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